A/N: Usual disclaimers apply - I don't own anything in this story that is publicly recognizable. Stephanie Meyer wrote the Twilight Saga... Summit made the movies. I just took whatever they made & let it run around in my odd little brain. This is some of what came of that romp...

Chapter 7

Charlie POV

Bella had taken the limited information that I had to offer about vampires with surprising ease. Well, other than the fact that she couldn't quit growling and, that my sweet, shy, docile daughter had turned into a much scarier version of her old self. I never would've imagined that the same girl who had fainted at the mere sight of blood, would be able to finish off a grizzly and two good sized black tailed does with such ease. Okay, maybe not with as much ease as me, but with my help, maybe that could change. I realized that I finally had the chance to to teach my baby girl things, to help her grow, even if that growth was as a vampire. The opportunities that many parents either took for granted or threw away so easily never ceased to amaze me. As a father who damn near missed every major milestone in my daughter's short life, I was pretty damn excited about this opportunity.

Renee may have had 17 years, but I was going to get an eternity.

Renee: 17 years – Charlie: Forever! Neener, neener, neener! I win!

Suck on that, bitch.

Okay, okay. Maybe I harbored more resentment towards my ex-wife than I previously realized. I'd been vocal about missing my girl and asking Renee for more time with her only to be denied or thwarted at each turn. There was always some reason that the she-devil could come up with to keep me from my daughter; most of which involved one of her hair brained schemes. I'd also suspected that she'd kept most of these requests from Bella. Bitch probably did the same with the monthly letters I sent. Bella never mentioned them, so it was a safe assumption. I'd kept quiet about it only because Bella seemed happy with her mom. All I'd ever wanted was for my baby girl to be happy and I refused to use my daughter as a pawn in some sort of revenge game.

Unlike some people.

Childish banter aside, I won. I know my daughter wasn't a thing to be won, a prize for the best parent. She was a treasure, to be sure; the jewel of my eye. Always had been, always would be. Even when she was being a bit of a raving bitch, like right now.

Okay, so when I wasn't fooling myself, I knew that Bella was acting nothing like the daughter I'd come to know. Well, as much as I was able to know her after interacting for mere weeks each year.

Drop it Charlie you've got a damn long while to bitch & moan. Do that shit later. You have eternity to be pissy about Renee. Focus on Bells.

Despite my internal scolding, I couldn't help it as I cursed Renee for robbing me of the opportunity to know this stuff. Bella hadn't even been with me long enough to throw a hormone driven teenage fit, so I wouldn't even know how to handle a human Bella fit, let alone the raging vampire fit she was throwing. The clearing that we sat in for our talk was quite a bit larger than it was when we got here. Seems my little girl was fond of pulverizing trees when she was pissed. And she was very, very pissed.

"So, what you're saying is that I'm going to be a fucking TEENAGER for all eternity?! No first trip to the voting booth? No twenty-one run where I get drunk off my ass and have a one night stand? No college mayhem and experimentation…"

"God dammit, Isabella!"

Where the FUCK did that verbal diarrhea come from? I was with her right up until she said "one night stand" and then entered into the twilight zone that is a daughter's internal workings or some such crazy shit. NO father wants to be privy to all of that shit! I want to get closer to my daughter as her father and this conversation is NOT conducive to that!

I had to get her back on track. This not blushing thing was going to end up benefitting both of us. I had a feeling that she was going to say even more stuff like that.

"Look, Bella, sweetheart, please, for the love of all that is holy, stop saying shit like that. No matter how big my brain feels right now, I do not currently have nor will I ever have the capacity or ability to safely hear and store that kind of shit."

"Shit. Fuck. Damn. Right. Um, uh, well, you know what I mean. It's not like I'd do all of that stuff anyway, okay? Maybe the one night stand…"

"ISABELLA!"

"Right, sorry. My point? I know I'm going to miss so much, Dad. I'm just so mad and confused. And, I think I'm hungry again. Or is it thirsty? Whatever. This growling bullshit is old already, Dad. Tell me how the fuck did I go from never really wanting to yell to this growling, snarling bitch? Believe me when I say Renee gave me ample reason, but I told you all about that. I even feel bitchy. Like, I feel it crawling out of my brain and seeping into my entire body. It's taking over. Does that even make sense?"

My poor, confused girl was overwhelmed. I think I probably should have been, too. I mean, this was some pretty freaky shit. Wait… what did she say?

"What was that about Renee?" I could feel my calm mood fading fast. If she meant anything close to what I think she meant…

"Well, Dad, you know Renee. Look up 'flighty' in the dictionary and there's a pic of good ol' Ma. I love her, don't get me wrong, it's just that once I was old enough to understand what she was doing, her behavior quickly became wearing. I mean, it's pretty fucking sad when your five year old has to caution you about the dangers of deep frying a turkey. Indoors. Without reading the directions."

Come again?

"Come again?"

My anger made my mega-brain glitch. Higher thoughts were impossible. Instead of focusing on the sound and smells of the forest around us, I lost myself to a red haze.

"Seriously, Dad, you must be old. When you get old, the memory is the first thing to go, ya know. I'm sure I mentioned it in at least two of my letters. Wait, no, three letters; we had to repaint the kitchen since the first two colors Renee picked weren't good juju or something like that. Plus, I had to finish it. Once she got the majority of the paint on the wall, she was done. It would have stayed that way if I hadn't figured out how to cut in from the trim and tape and stuff like that. Good thing too, those skills came in handy over and over!" Her tone was flippant; the subject, anything but.

As soon as Bella said "letters," all logical thought left my mind. When she finished speaking, I heard and felt nothing but the crunch and snap of surrounding trees as I followed Bella's example and made the clearing larger.

My chest was heaving, the unnecessary breaths calming me. The scent of my daughter infused my lungs. Her scent had been precious to me since the moment I'd met her in the hospital. I'd never understood why my mother used to breathe in so deep when she used to hug me; when I became a parent, I finally understood. There's something so sweet and calming about smelling your own kid. Weird, yep. True, yep again. Now, even several feet away from her, her scent alone told me that she was safe. She was safe and here with me.

"Bella, are you saying that you wrote to me?"

"What are you saying, did you forget? That's harsh, Dad. It was bad enough that you didn't write back, but to forget…"

"No, Bella. I remember everything about your life. Well, everything that I saw or heard about. What I am saying is that I never got any of your letters. I wrote you once every month. Without fail, I wrote at least a small note on the thirteenth of each month, sweetheart."

This time, rocks were the target of her rage. Too bad we couldn't sell this stuff; we'd make a killing off of gravel and wood chips. Damn cavernous new-fangled brain, trying to make a buck while my kiddo is falling apart in front of my very eyes.

"No, you didn't! No! You couldn't have! Do you have any idea the things I've thought of you over the years? How abandoned I've felt? The times I cried to Mom? That bitch! She kept me from you! I want to rip her lying tongue out of her filthy mouth! Sure, she sent me to visit, but I felt so weird. I mean, since you never wrote back or even mentioned my letters, I believed mom that you wanted us gone. I figured that you just barely tolerated the visits…"

Charlie, your baby needs you. Calm your ass down. She's having a hard enough time adjusting to whatever our lives are now without this dirty nugget of information being dropped in her lap. I can always kill a bitch later….

"Oh, sweetheart, Bells – I don't even know what to say. I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't a small part of me that wanted to swim to Florida and literally bite your mother in the ass. But that's not going to give us back what was taken from us. Besides, I think that if either of us killed your mother, we'd come to regret it at some point. Well, maybe we'd regret it," I winked at my girl. The corner of her lip curled into a reluctant smile. It wasn't much, but at this point, it was a Godsend. I'd take it.

"But why, Dad? To what end? Let's face it, once I saw what a mess she was, I probably would have chosen to live with her, if only to save her from herself. It's not like I'm ignorant to the fact that I've been a self-sacrificing wimp. But she didn't need to lie to us. Do you realize that I could have had more than a father? I could have had a real dad, like I'd always wanted. I tried so hard, Dad. I just thought you didn't care. I don't know what to do, what to think." Her sorrow cut me like a machete.

This was a bit beyond my normal 'Doctor Dad' stuff. How could I bandage this up? Damn you, Renee! I won't hit a bitch, but I'll shake her!

Somehow, I kept my inner hostility hidden. Guess this vamp thing had made my lying and acting skills improve. It was shocking that I was able to contain my venom, let alone my growl as I began to speak, "We can only move forward. We've got each other now and that is what is important, Sweetheart. I'm here now. I've missed so damned much. And believe me when I say I've missed it, Baby Girl. Now, we can learn together. And maybe I can still teach a life lesson here and there. Lesson one probably needs to be either wicked wilderness laundry and sewing, or, I'm gonna have to teach you how to eat without looking like 'Carrie'."

"Guess there is still plenty to teach me, huh? I'm going to learn wilderness clothing care and how to eat like a vampire lady. Too bad we don't have any sports equipment. Judging by how badass I am now, I could actually absorb some of that sports crap you used to try to cram down my throat."

My inner 'sports dad' began to perk up. Never once had I wished I'd had a boy instead of a girl. I had just hoped that the girl I had would have been able to play a simple game of tag with her old man; instead I got a beautifully clumsy bookworm. I'd not trade my Bella for all the tea in China, but the mere thought of being able to play any sport with my kiddo had me literally giddy. Her complete lack of interest in any physical activity had made finding activities we'd both enjoy a difficult task on her short visits.

"Isabella Marie, you had better not be joking, young lady."

Our banter seemed to calm her somewhat, finally. Her angelic face broke out into a blindingly beautiful smile, "Daddy, even I wouldn't joke about that with you. Now that I won't be risking life and limb, I don't see why I shouldn't learn some of that stuff. I feel so damned energized. Since I don't really feel like running hither and yon looking for some wildlife and laundry isn't exactly on my short list of fun things to do, how about we see what kind of sports knowledge you can impart on your previously sports-ignorant daughter?"

She called me Daddy. She wants to learn about sports.

Be still my heart… oh… yeah….guess it wasn't exactly beating anyway.

My eyes immediately began to scan the immediate area. Trees and rocks would provide good javelin and shot-put, but they would fly so far that they'd get lost to even our eyesight. Maybe we could start with a game of stick ball; we would just substitute a rock for the ball.

With that thought in mind, I began to play a 'sport' with my daughter for the first time in her life, "Alright, the game is stick ball. First things first, we've got to round up a few things…"

Alice POV

The town of Forks was shaken to its core by the loss of Chief Swan and his daughter. Because of that, the 'fact' that perfect Edward Cullen had been in an auto accident was easily overlooked. Still, our cover story was air tight in case anyone should care enough to ask. Edward's cast was a great annoyance and anything that could annoy the sulky grouse at this point was wonderfully entertaining to me.

At this point, I'd take about anything to take my mind off of my missing mate.

The ache was getting worse, but that was to be expected. Charlie's absence was weighing heavily on me. It took every ounce of self-control I possessed to not run straight to him. I'd be able to find him easily; I knew that he was currently fulfilling a lifelong dream, playing sports with his kiddo. It was so hard to stay in Forks; only the fact that I knew this bonding time with Bella would only further enrich our future relationship kept me in my seat.

The lunchroom at Forks High was unusually quiet. Funny how the students mourned a classmate that was merely an oddity to them. Bella had no time to form any real sort of relationships with our fellow students, yet they mourned her as an old friend. Jessica Stanley was the worst. Her claim of an immediate bond with my future best friend was laughable.

I no longer even pretended to eat. No one noticed. If they did, I could easily explain it as missing Jasper. As far as Forks High was concerned, we were joined at the hip. Well, I'd explain it like that should anyone get balls enough to actually ask me anything.

As I made to get up from the Formica table, I froze.

*Vison*

Charlie and Bella were ecstatic. They'd happened upon an old, closed down campground; its office/store abandoned but not empty. Inside, Bella was able to acquire some t-shirts to replace her blood stained one. Charlie found a Frisbee, a football, and a trac ball.

"Hey Bells, check it out! More sports lessons!"

"Sweetness! Check out these shirts, Dad. Should I go with Snoopy roasting marshmallows or the 'Mt. Alice' shirt?"

"Will either one fit me?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at Bella, who was holding up both choices for his inspection.

"Yeah, the 'Mt. Alice' one will"

Both stiffened and turned toward the closed door. Bella began to growl and quickly rushed behind Charlie, the shirts forgotten on the floor. Charlie remained outwardly calm, doing his best to keep Bella in check. Alice's mate had amazing control, after all.

As Charlie reached back to grab Bella's hand in a comforting gesture, the door slowly began to open. Two vampires entered the room, somehow making their cocky stances seem nonthreatening. The two males stopped, giving the newborn vampires time to adjust to their presence.

"No need to fear, you two. We don't mean any harm; we scented your trails on our way to visit some friends. It's pretty easy to tell by your scents that you newborns, however, we were shocked to not find the scent of your sire. We came to see if you needed any kind of help. If not, we will be on our way," the elder vampire soothed.

"Thank you. Yes, we're newbies to this stuff. I'm Charlie, this is Bella. We'd love to ask a few questions, but do you mind if we do it outside? Bella hasn't figured out how to be as calm as me and even I'm feeling a bit titchy myeself in this closed up space." My mate's control was so impressive!

"Of course, no…" the elder vampire didn't have a chance to respond. The younger vampire, having just looked up from his immaculately clean, expensive looking shoes interrupted the elder vampire mid-sentence.

"What kinda shit ya'll been smokin' to get eyes like that? I want some!"

*End Vision*

I let out a sigh of relief. I knew that both Charlie and Bella would be safe; but having a trusted friend find them to help guide them would help Charlie to ease some tension he had been hiding for Bella's sake. At least my mate would find some temporary comfort.

With a gentle sigh, I left the table and the lunch room. For once,I couldn't wait to see someone in a t-shirt, the 'Mt. Alice' shirt would totally crack Emmett's shit up. The future was going to be so wonderful. The present never seemed more boring.