Title: Charlie's Priorities
Author: Sare Liz
Series: Daily Vampire Mating Ritual
Continuity: The Day The Earth Stood Still (outtake)
Rating: M.

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga belongs to Stephenie Meyer.
Beta: Colleen P., wonderful.
Author's Note: :) And now we hear from Forks' Chief of Police...

There's a lot that makes more sense, now.

I'd once found it impressive that he would go out of his way to provide a picnic, read her Shakespeare as a thank-you gesture, neither of which would have occurred to me to attempt for any woman in any situation. Now I come to realize that he's got some sort of photographic memory and in fact, has most of the classics memorized. I watched him just the other day recite, with full drama, something Jane Austin wrote for Bella as they laid on the couch together. Mariners lost that game. That's what I was paying most attention to. But still, it was hard not to notice the happy couple. But suddenly, things that were out of focus, incomprehensible, free-floating without reason or motive, suddenly it's all becoming tethered and grounded.

I'm beginning to figure out the figure that is mostly known as Edward Cullen.

Born Edward A. Masen, Jr., June 20th, 1901, Chicago. Son of prominent lawyer Edward Anthony Masen, Sr. and Elisabeth, no maiden name available. Parents died of Spanish Influenza in September 1918 within weeks of one another. So did junior. Who signed the death certificate? One Dr. Carlisle Cullen, M.D.

Naturally.

It's amazing what you can find when you're curious, and a cop.

Edward Masen, Edward Cullen, Edward Hale, always connected with a father or brother or uncle named Carlisle... There are probably other pseudonyms, but this is what I had to work with. If my information is correct, it's amazing how much schooling that boy has had.

Boy. What an illusion. He's one hundred and five years old. My eighteen year old daughter is married to a mythical creature who is one hundred and five years old.

Married.

Did they think I wouldn't find out?

It was curiosity at first. They would have to create a cover, wouldn't they? And I was so curious to see how good it was. I was well aware just how much of an underground economy there was in fake identities, but I was oh-so curious.

I dug. And I dug. And I dug.

I thought about all I knew concerning the Cullens. I listed out all I could reasonably assume, and then, because they were who they were, I had a whole other category for the things that I couldn't reasonably assume, but that might be true anyway. They were... what they were after all.

Six weeks of digging when the office was slow, in my off hours. Didn't get much fishing done, but a father's got to do what a father's got to do. And I haven't much been there for Bella when she was young, but I could certainly be there for her now.

Or maybe that wasn't fair.

It's not clear to me that I did this for Bella. It could be I just did it for myself. For me and Renee, because even if her decisions aren't ours to make, feeling powerless while she walks into hell barefoot isn't a good feeling.

So I dug.

And now I was contemplating calling Renee. This is not an endeavor I consider lightly. I hate talking with her. She's just so... happy. She's happy experiencing everything I never could offer her and her very happiness twists a knife in my gut that she plunged in when she left with our daughter, the daughter I'd always imagined we'd raise together. One big happy family. That never happened. I lost my wife, I lost my daughter, I lost my happiness.

Most of the time I was able to ignore it. When I talk with Renee, there's no ignoring it.

Still, she had a right to know. But I figure I should talk with Bella first, give her first dibs on talking to her mom.

Renee needs to know, especially if Bella planned on... well. You know.

Also not a conversation I was looking forward to having.

Never thought Bella would follow so clearly in our footsteps. Getting married at eighteen in Vegas. We never told her about that. Didn't want to put ideas into her head. I kept my end of the bargain, but now I wonder about Renee.

Two idiot children, running off to Vegas to elope. Bella wasn't even out of diapers before we were divorced.

He said they mate for life. I can't even imagine what that would look like. But then again, his family is a testament to it, so maybe he knows what he's talking about. It's obvious they care about one another, but could they not have fathomed that maybe I'd have liked to have given Bella away?

His parents were there. Hell, Sam Uley was there. Come to think of it, I bet Jacob was there, too, if he's the leader.

I'm the last to know. I'd hate it more if I hadn't done it to my own parents. I remember all too well what it was like to be stupid in love. I wouldn't have thought it of Bella, but then I don't claim to know her real well anymore, if I ever did, which I probably didn't.

I wonder if she told Renee.

I've overheard her on the phone, sometimes, that phone he bought for her. (What boy buys a cell phone for his girlfriend? I should have seen this coming a mile away, instead of in retrospect. I wrote it off to the money of his parents. Parents. Mentor. Maker. Whatever.) I know she gets pretty graphic about their relationship. I know things about my little girl I never wanted to know.

I know he sneaks in at night. (Do they think I'm stupid? And deaf? And have no sense of smell?)

I know she doesn't always go camping, and I'd be willing to bet she never really has. (Camping? Bella? Get real. Do they think I was born yesterday?)

I know the few times she's had me call her in sick to school he's also not been in school, and he hadn't called it in - they'd had to track down his 'parents.'

But, I also know that her grades have actually improved, particularly in math and history where I know she's always flailed, and I know it's because he tutors her. And I know that she's been happier than I've ever known her to be, or heard stories of her being. Never quite fit in, our Bella.

Typical teenage behavior, you see it all the time, I hear it from all the parents - get a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, and suddenly the teen withdraws from their friends and family. Not Bella. I think she has more friends now than she's ever had, and I certainly see more of her than I thought I would, what with her and Edward hanging out over here so often.

Granted, most of those friends are either Cullens or Quileutes, come to think of it, but still, she's got them. At least she's comfortable with her in-laws. More than I ever claimed to be. Apparently she'll have them for quite some time.

Ah, and their sex life. At least I knew she was sexually active and taking precautions before I had evidence that she was sexually active. Didn't come as quite a shock that way.

All things considered, you'd think they'd be much quieter. After all, it's not like they can read my mind. They don't know that I know, and I've yet to give any indication. That's an ace I'm waiting to play.

Actually, it might be a whole sleeve of aces, if I play my cards right.

And I wait, even with a sleeve full of aces, because as much as their relationship unnerves me at times it also seems that it's doing Bella a world of good. I can't actually imagine someone more devoted to my daughter than that man. Thing. Man. I'll go with man.

He's not perfect. I see that. He seems to be a little bit of a worry wart. He has self-admitted issues with control. He somehow thinks that secretly marrying my daughter in her senior year of high school was a good idea, and I would debate that with him until the cows came home, and a good deal afterwards. He is quite obviously a very accomplished liar which bothers me on principle. It may be that at some point in his long life he has killed people and there's just no way around that not being a good thing.

Everyone dies. Sometimes people have to die at the hands of others. I'm glad that I've never had to be the cause of it, I've never had to kill someone in the line of duty, but I understand that sometimes we are the cause of someone else dying. Some places still have the death penalty. Killing happens in war. But it's clear to me that being the cause, directly or indirectly, of someone else's untimely demise is never a good thing, even if it's an acceptable thing. It's never the best way. It always leaves an indelible mark on the one who does it. It pains me to know that whatever the reason, that boy probably has that mark, and that's something he'll have to live with for the rest of his considerably long life. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

He's not perfect. Still, he and Bella seem to have a pretty deep connection. I can see that as clear as the nose on his face. And there's really no going between them. Aside from the admittedly necessary lying, the somewhat extraneous lying and eloping with my daughter, Edward Cullen has shown himself to be the model human being, well, okay, not quite human. Is he human? Doesn't matter. Person. He's been the model person. He's saved her life while risking his cover. He's turned his own world upside down to meet her where she is, as a human with human needs and requirements. He goes out of his way to be respectful, to be kind to the Quileutes who apparently hate him on sight, and to preserve human life against his natural inclination. He caters to her every whim, if I understand things correctly, and yet quite obviously challenges her at the same time. And apparently the sex is quite good.

He's not perfect. Then again, neither am I.

And in the end, it doesn't matter. None of it matters. She is an adult, or becoming one, and is responsible for her own decisions. Heaven knows she's been an adult making adult decisions with Renee for quite some time now. She still lives with me, but that clock is ticking down. It is my privilege that she lives with me at this point in her life, and I know it. 'Joint Custody' is a misnomer when you only get to be in your daughter's life for two weeks out of the year. It's a horrible, twisted lie is what it is. There is nothing joint about raising a child when you don't share a household with that child, or assumptions, expectations, values and responsibility with the other caretaker. For too long our lives have been on divergent paths. It was her choice that they converge again. I am only in Bella's life because Bella has chosen me to be, and there's not a single day I don't reflect on that fact. If Bella chooses, I can be out of her life just as quickly. Don't think I don't know it. I do.

If they had to elope, which at this point is neither here nor there as it is over and done with, and an annulment is quite obviously not an option for those two, I couldn't be more pleased that they chose to keep it a secret. Bella has chosen, for now, to continue living here. Knowing a little better Edward's situation I realize what a precious choice that is. Bella will be more than cared for for her entire life. She doesn't need to finish school or go to college to be able to afford a home or food or health insurance or clothes for her children. That will never be a worry for her. She doesn't need the approval of others for I am sure sooner than I will like, she will have a new identity in a new place, starting over looking fifteen or sixteen, or maybe dropping off the radar entirely. I only hope she will still allow me into her life, wherever it is, whatever it looks like.

Every other member of that family that I could find, which okay, wasn't many - Esme and Rosalie, really - they died. Edward, too. Their deaths were all faked.

I really don't want to push Bella into a situation where she feels like she has to do that. I'll be as flexible as I need to be. I'll accept whatever I need to accept, but I refuse to be the cause for Bella's absence in my life for the second time. I've experienced it once already.

Once was enough.

Maybe I'll wait on calling Renee.

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