Summary: In the first chapter.

poorasdirt: Yes, another chapter and I'm still alive! I still feel sad about Charlie dying especially when I decided to re-read that chapter while listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, now that was just depressing. Ah well, nothing I can do but continue on. Plus, I have over ten reviews! YAY!! I'd like to thank all the readers who have reviewed, or favorited, or alerted this story. My sis also likes how it's going so far, yes you've all finally caught up with her in the plot scheme. Although she may have a bit more insight because she has the ability to bug me about what I might put into this, she has to wait patiently like the rest of you. Right, probably should let you get to it then.

Disclaimer: OCs and plot line belong to meh, otherwise everything else is other peoples.

ENJOY!!


She couldn't remember much from the point of being informed that her father had died to being on the road that early morning. What she did know was she had to slow down because she was going at least twenty miles over the speed limit. So easing a bit on the throttle she soon realized where she was going and sighed. Instead of zooming off towards Port Angeles to talk to Madison she changed her course back towards La Push. Again everything blurred until she got off her bike in front of Billy's house and went up to the door, leaving her helmet on her bike. She stood there looking at the door for a while trying to decide if she should knock or not. Instead she examined the grain of the painted wood of the door for what seemed like seconds before the door abruptly swung away from her. In its place was a chest, the chest belonged to someone of the male persuasion, broad, defined, and clothed in a t-shirt. Narrowing her eyes at it for taking away her object of observation she looked up at the owner of the offending body part. She was surprised to see Jacob standing there; she was also surprised to see Jacob standing there with short hair. She idly wondered when he cut it while he was blinking down at her in surprise.

"Is Billy here?" She asked softly, loud enough to be heard but soft enough that it may have been a whisper, she wasn't sure.

"Uh yea, why are you here Bella?" He asked his eyes showing concern. She knew she probably looked almost like a zombie. She hadn't had much sleep in the past two days, barely ate so she felt weak, and she didn't bother to run a comb through her hair even after she showered. She really hadn't changed her clothes in three days either.

"Can I speak to him?" She asked ignoring his question, not knowing how much longer she could hold everything together. She nearly lost it while getting here, she knew, she saw how the road blurred curiously as she neared the reservation.

"Sure, come in." Jacob said moving out of the way to let Bella in. He was supposed to be going to school but he was too concerned for Bella to let that to happen now. Bella looked like someone shook her up, set her on a week's walk, and then told her Edward had died. Not that Jacob had any objection to the last one but still, he didn't like to see her in pain, physical or emotional.

"Bella? What's the matter?" Billy asked instantly when he saw Bella walk in. "How long have you been standing out there?" Billy then asked and she seemed mildly amused.

"Haven't the faintest idea really, but do you know you have thirty seven knots in your door?" She asked with a mild humor that wasn't all the way there. For Billy it just confirmed that his niece in everything but blood had stood outside his door for a while. Billy didn't doubt she would still be standing out there hadn't Jacob had to open it to go to school.

"Never counted, so what brings you here?" Billy asked again hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. However Bella stood up straight and set her jaw almost in a rebellious stance, what she was rebelling against nether of the two males knew.

"Dad died at four twenty nine this morning." Bella said coldly and in an impersonal voice like she was stating the weather. "They missed some of the internal bleeding; he died on the operation table." She informed them still in the same tone before letting out a sigh and seeming to gain ten more years than she had physically. "Can I cry now?" She asked the impersonal stance melting leaving behind an almost sobbing young woman who looked ready to fall over at any minute. Not waiting for an answer to her question she fell to her knees suddenly with heart wrenching powerful sobs that shook her whole body. As if that triggered something Jacob dropped his backpack and rushed over to Bella, gathering her up in his arms he brought her over to the couch were he sat down. Not caring that she was angry with him, Bella latched herself onto Jacob sobbing into his chest. She was wrong, the pain of Edward leaving was nothing compared to the pain of losing her dad. However underneath that pain anger was building on top of the heavy led like ball of anger she already had in her stomach. She couldn't say what exactly was the cause of the anger but it was there and she accepted it along with the pain.

"Dad?" Jacob asked as Billy shut the door and went towards the phone.

"Just sit with her; I have to make a few phone calls." Billy said getting a nod from Jacob who held onto Bella gently but securely to let her know he was there. Quickly Billy called to confirm that Charlie had indeed passed away, once he knew what Bella said was true he called Harry's place. Sue was over almost instantly relieving Jacob of his sobbing bundle. "Jacob I called your school telling them you'll be a bit late. I suggest getting there now."

"But dad, what's going on?" Jacob asked confused.

"Not now Jacob, just go to school." Billy said and Jacob looked rebellious. "Don't make me call Sam." He said calmly and that got Jacob moving. Jacob left reluctantly and had to do a double take when he saw the black Harley in his driveway, before he went to school.

That day while Jacob was at school Bella cried out all her pain, she was happy to be around Billy and Sue who did their best to be supportive. Harry was informed but couldn't make it because he still had work; however he was planning on going to Billy's right afterwards to check on Bella. Bella alternated between sobbing uncontrollably to sleeping for a few hours before she had enough power to call Renee to tell her that Charlie was dead. After that she called Madison who promised to be over tomorrow and wasn't going to change her mind on the matter. Bella was happy she had such a good friend in Madison; really it was what she needed at the moment. After the conversation with Madison Bella wasn't happy but she was at least not going to break out into sobs randomly. Now all the three adults had to do was to get her to eat.

"Come on Bella, you haven't had a decent meal in nearly three days." Sue coaxed as they heard the door open and close.

"Dad I'm home." Jacob called from the living room.

"In here." Billy said as they tried once more to get Bella to eat something.

"Dad, can we talk?" Jacob asked looking at the other two adults and Bella in his kitchen.

"Sure." Billy said knowing Jacob wanted to find out what was going on. He wheeled himself out of the kitchen to Harry threatening Bella that they'd call Madison if she didn't eat anything. Surprisingly enough like threatening Jacob with calling Sam, it got Bella to start eating.

"What's all this about?" Jacob asked looking concerned in the direction of the kitchen.

"I figure you'd be out of the loop, what with you avoiding Bella and all." Billy said a note of disapproval in his voice at that.

"I can't help it that Sam wants me to avoid her since well you know." Jacob said with a frustrated sigh. He didn't like avoiding Bella but he couldn't tell her that he was a werewolf either. It was just hard and complicated, and he wanted things back the way they were before he phased.

"I know, I don't like it much either. Now remember when I told you yesterday about Charlie being in the hospital because of that shooting up at the camp grounds?" Billy asked getting a nod from Jacob who was frowning. The pack hadn't been up at the campgrounds but they knew a lot about the incident. "Charlie was pretty bad off; he had nearly four potentially lethal wounds from bullets. They managed to stabilize him for a day but he passed away this morning." Billy said and wasn't surprised to see how devastated Jacob looked.

"Okay and the Harley out front?" Jacob asked trying to distract himself from the bad news.

"That's Bella's; can you put it back in that garage of yours? It's going to rain tonight and I know she won't be in any condition to ride home at this rate." Billy said getting a dumbfounded look from Jacob.

"When did she get a bike? I thought Charlie didn't want her to own one." Jacob asked confused.

"She got it three months back and fixed it up with Charlie's help. It helped her get out of her depression about the Cullens leaving. If you were around more often you'd know she and Charlie liked to go riding together, they even stopped by here sometimes." Billy said getting a sheepish look from Jacob.

"Charlie rode too?" Jacob asked trying to focus on this new information.

"Yea, it was one of the things he liked more than sports, fishing, and Renee Higgenbotham before he was out of school. After the divorce he didn't ride as much as he used to and his bike sat in his storage room collecting dust." Billy said with a smile. "I was surprised to see him riding on it again actually."

"Alright I'll put it in the garage, but I have to go to Sam's." Jacob said with a frown wanting to stay here and help his childhood friend and crush.

"I know; tell him that Bella is going to be staying until Renee get's here would you. I don't think I'd trust her alone in a house at this point anyway." Billy said before going back to see how Bella was doing. Jacob stood there for a few moments wondering if he could brush off Sam but eventually went to put the bike away. After he was sure the bike would be safe inside the garage, he took a few moments to admire it, and he left to Sam's house. Jacob also idly wondered about how Bella seemed so close to Billy, Harry, and Sue before realizing he did in fact miss a lot by ignoring her.

The next morning Jacob was awake at five in the morning on the dot thanks to someone pounding on the front door. Groaning he got out of bed and went to answer the door since it was highly unlikely anyone else would be able to get it. He simply put on a pair of shorts and noted he at least would be able to have a decent breakfast before going to school as he walked to the door. As soon as he opened it he blinked a few times at the girl standing on his front porch. He took in her nearly white blonde hair, husky blue eyes, and ivory skin carefully as he registered she was wearing a light blue spaghetti strap shirt with a picture of Grumpy Bear on it under a white jacket that ended just past her chest. She also had on a pair of baggy white pants with several metal chains hanging from the legs and crisscrossing in the back, and a pair of silver, light blue, and white shoes on. It took another blink for him to register all the silver jewelry the girl wore and the fact that she had several piercings as well.

"Well, are you going to stop checking me out and move aside already?" Madison snapped at the person blocking her way.

"Um, why exactly would I do that?" Jacob asked still very much half asleep.

"Because I'm here to see Bella, you know because she's my friend?" Madison asked semi-sarcastic. "You do know her dad died yesterday right?"

"Yea, but why are you here at five in the morning?" Jacob asked and Madison looked slightly confused.

"Billy's used to me showing up around five when we all go fishing together." Madison answered and sure enough Billy was wheeling himself out of his room to greet the hyper blonde. "Wait you're that one guy Bell talks about, what's your name again? I know it starts with a J, um, Jason? Johnny? Jeremiah?"

"Jacob." Jacob answered now a bit more awake than when he first answered the door.

"Okay Jackson, just move aside while I go be best friends with my best friend." Madison said attempting to move Jacob out of the way but it wasn't working.

"Morning Madison, I see you made it here in one piece." Billy said with a chuckle at the scene playing out on his front porch.

"Yep and I wasn't caught speeding, now where's Bell and can you remove your Jonson from my path?" Madison asked pointing to Jacob who looked mildly annoyed the blonde kept messing up his name.

"Jacob let her in before she decides to use more drastic methods." Billy said with a smile shaking his head at Bella's friend. On one hand Billy liked Madison for her wisdom and optimistic attitude, on the other he was quite uneasy about her eccentric nature. However, Madison was indeed Bella's best friend and Billy knew that Bella really needed the other girl right now.

"Um, sure dad." Jacob said still unsure about letting this lunatic into his house. Madison rushed past Jacob ignoring the funny look he gave her and stopped in front of Billy.

"Where is she? Is she okay? How has she been taking it? She hasn't done anything overly stupid has she? Is her mother on her way? Has the cops stopped by to talk to her about what's going to happen? Did they catch the guy responsible? She hasn't been riding her bike in this state has she? Did she eat anything? Did she have any nightmares? Has she been eating? Where is she?" Madison rattled off rather quickly bouncing on her heels in concern.

"She's not exactly okay but she's probably cried all that she's going to. She hasn't done anything stupid that I'm aware of; she did ride her bike here from the hospital though. The cops haven't stopped by yet; everyone is waiting for Renee to get here to help with the funeral arrangements. Yes she's eaten and yes they caught the guy responsible. I don't know about if she has had any nightmares or not, but you can ask her. She's in the room down the hall second door on your left." Billy said and as soon as he was finished Madison was off, her braid swishing behind her and nearly whipping Jacob in the chest.

"Um, dad, who exactly was that?" Jacob asked still uncertain as he heard the door open and close.

"That was just Bella's friend Madison. They've gotten really close ever since the beginning of January." Billy said casually already having been exposed to Madison a few times before.

"Okay." Jacob said still a bit stunned.

Meanwhile Bella woke up feeling the bed shift next to her. She let her eyes focus a bit before she saw a concerned and sadden Madison float into her line of vision. "Hey." Madison said softly and Bella smiled sadly.

"Hey." Bella responded before she scooted closer and wrapped her arms around her friend happy the other girl was there. Madison shifted a bit so Bella's head rested on her shoulder before the blonde wrapped her arms around the brunette comfortingly. No words were spoken for some time as the two girls simply held and comforted each other without making a sound. Bella knew for a fact that Madison really did like Charlie, since Madison's own father was a businessman that was never really home. Madison once told Bella that she collected father figures and Charlie became the sort of father Madison looked up to, much like her coworker Phil's father was. Charlie and Madison also had a good friendship since both connected over sports and all the time Madison spent at Bella's house over the weekends. Madison on the other hand knew how close Bella had gotten to her father after her bad break up in September. It was hard to imagine they had only been friends for just three months but in a way they were more like sisters now.

"I heard your mom was coming soon." Madison said softly after a while of the two of them not moving.

"Hm, yea, she's supposed to arrive sometime today." Bella said with a sigh.

"How've you been sleeping?" Madison asked seeing the slowly grown dark circles under her friend's eyes.

"Not very well, just an hour or two every now and then." Bella answered with a frown.

"Try and get some sleep then, I'm not going anywhere." Madison said and Bella made a small agreeing noise.

"Wait, don't you have school today, and work?" Bella asked looking up at her friend who just smiled slightly.

"It's Friday so I called the school saying I had a family emergency and used one of my sick days for work." Madison said with the slightest of shrugs. "Next week is Easter Vacation so I have from now till the fifth off."

"Oh, right, forgot about spring vacation." Bella said with a sigh resting her head back on her friend's shoulder.

"Probably because you haven't slept a solid eight hours for the past three or so days, like I said, I'm not going anywhere. So get some rest and if you start having a nightmare or something I'll wake you up." Madison said even though she hadn't really had a good night's rest last night either. She had found it hard to get to sleep last night knowing her friend was probably borderline depressed and only had Charlie's friends for support.

"Thanks Mad." Bella muttered before drifting off. A few minutes later when Billy came to check up on the two girls he found them both curled up on the bed fast asleep. Deciding to let them be, he quietly exited and went to go call Sue and Harry to tell them Madison was at his house with Bella.

Around lunch time Bella woke up to find that she somehow ended up sprawled out sideways on the bed and she was using Madison's legs as a pillow. Madison was actually awake and sitting with her back against the headboard, earplugs in her ears and playing with a PSP. Bella just laid there for a few minutes letting the calm of the moment sink in and letting her relax. She knew as soon as Renee got there the two girls would be back at Bella's house and more than likely helping arrange for the funeral. In the past twenty four hours Bella had cried out all her tears and though she was still slightly pained for the loss she didn't think she'd go into depression anytime soon. She loved her father and she would miss him, but she also knew by now that obsessing over the loss wouldn't help. She also knew that he died doing what was right for the community and she was proud of him for that. Deciding the only emotion she had left over the loss of her father was anger; she quickly buried it so she wouldn't lash out at anything or anyone. She'd deal with that anger later, for now she had to gather her strength and tackle the next obstacle which incidentally was her dad's funeral arrangements.

Refocusing on Madison, Bella was amused to see her blonde friend now had her tongue sticking out and a look of determination on her face as she pressed the buttons of her handheld game a little more furiously. Bella also noted Madison had on a jacket that she didn't have on when Bella first saw her and all the missing jewelry was back in place. Looking at one of the more nasty looking spiked cuffs Bella was glad Madison took them off before she got on the bed, they looked dangerous. The only thing missing was Madison's shoes that were probably on the floor, allowing Bella to see the white socks with large light blue snowflakes on them. Deciding to mess with her friend, and the chain beneath her head was becoming uncomfortable, Bella poked Madison in the thigh making the blonde jump. Bella watched in amusement as Madison's face morphed in shock before she began imitating a gold fish.

"Ah…Ah…NO!" Madison said in mock anguish. "I was so close! Why did you die little nonexistent game hero? Why?" Madison nearly sobbed making Bella laugh at her friend's expense. Bella rolled off of Madison's legs, luckily only losing a strand or two of hair to the chains she had been resting on. One more look at Madison's shocked and slightly horrified face though, sent Bella into another fit of laughter. "Oh, you think that's funny huh?" Madison asked taking out the earplugs just now realizing her friend was up and laughing at her.

The next few minutes turned into a pillow/tickle free for all fight. While both were smiling and laughing it was still slightly muted, but Bella figured it was a start. "So want to go see if there's anything to eat?" Bella asked once the two were finally sprawled out catching their breath.

"Yea, we probably should see if your mom is here now." Madison said with a sigh.

"Yea, we probably should." Bella said with only half enthusiasm.

"Are you going to be alright?" Madison asked in concern looking at her friend.

"I think so, I'll be even better if there's a trial and I get to attend." Bella said getting a nod from Madison.

"I'll be there too if there is one. I want to see the bastard get what's coming to him." Madison said making Bella smile at the sincerity of her friend's declaration. "But we can get into that later, first food." Madison said pushing Bella off the bed. Bella muttered a few choice words into the floor as Madison snickered at her expense. Bella returned the favor by tripping Madison when she was jumping off the bed, so the blonde also landed face first on the unforgiving ground with a groan. This time it was Bella who was the one snickering at the other's expense. A few more minutes of struggling to get on their shoes the two made their way to the kitchen, Bella having jumped onto Madison's back before they got out of the door so Madison was the one doing the actual walking. "Dang girl, you're heavy! Ever heard of Weight Watchers?"

"Oh shut up, with all that metal on, you probably weigh twice as much as me." Bella said as Madison nearly tripped and fell into the kitchen, much to the amusement of Billy and Sue. "Hi Uncle Billy, Aunt Sue, what's up?"

"Nothing much Bella, Harry has gone to pick up Renee. Her plane should be touching down soon. How are you two doing?" Sue answered with a smile at the two best friends.

"I'm being crushed under the enormous weight of a certain unnamed friend of mine, but otherwise peachy." Madison answered with a grin that faltered slightly when Bella whacked her on the head.

"I'm fine, but still a bit tired and overwhelmed." Bella answered before jumping off of Madison. The blonde made a show of slowly reaching up and rubbing her head while sending a mock glare in Bella's direction.

"That's understandable; it's nice that you got a few solid hours of rest though." Billy said with a slight smile. It was good to see Bella coming to terms with Charlie's death but at the same time all of them were hit pretty hard because they were all such close friends with the man.

"Anyway we're here to raid your fridge for anything decidedly delectable to eat." Madison said rubbing her hands together and eyeing the fridge hungrily.

"Go ahead you two, just don't create a mess." Billy said and soon two very hungry eighteen year old females descended on the Black Family Fridge without mercy. "So Bella, you're heading to your house now?" Billy asked once the two had their fill.

"Yea, I feel up to it. Besides I still have to gather some things up that we'll need for the funeral and stuff. Also, the answering machine will most likely be overrun with messages by now." Bella said getting a nod from the man.

"Don't worry, I'm going with her." Madison said seeing Sue's next question. "She shall not leave my sight, well unless she goes to the bathroom, until her mom shows up, I promise."

"Thank you Madison, I'll bring some dinner by for you three later. I have a feeling none of you will be in the mood to cook." Sue said though she was unsure she'd let Madison near a stove.

"No need for thanks, it's what friends do." Madison muttered with a shrug.

"We'd appreciate that Aunt Sue. If we need anything I'll call either your house or Uncle Billy." Bella said giving Sue a hug with a half hearted smile on her face.

"You do that, oh, and I asked Jacob to put your bike out in his garage to keep it safe. Just go back there and get it." Billy said also getting a hug from Bella.

"Thanks, I'll call you both soon." Bella said getting nods before both girls headed out. Bella was slightly surprise to see a silver and blue Harley outside but Madison just shrugged it off. After her initial shock wore off Bella went with Madison to get her bike out of Jacob's garage before they both took off for Forks.

The next few days were a flurry of activity, with organizing Charlie's funeral, convincing Renee that Bella should stay in Forks to finish her senior year, convincing Renee that Bella would be fine in Forks and she could go back to Florida and the trial of the man responsible for Charlie's death. Through it all Madison was practically Bella's shadow when they didn't have work or school. Finally two weeks after Charlie died Madison deemed Bella past the suicide period, much to Bella's amusement, and they threw a party to celebrate, which they invited Angela, Ben, Billy, Harry, and Sue to attend. Really, Bella was unsure what she would have done had she not had Madison there to help her through it. As it was, Bella quickly came to terms with her dad's death, though she still got a bit downtrodden when he is mentioned she was sure she was getting out of the grieving stage soon, even if her anger didn't ever get resolved.


YAY!! Jacob is in the house and utterly confused as to what is going on. Oh well, he didn't stick around to hang out with Bella so it's his loss. Um yea, I still don't know if I potrayed him right but if I didn't I don't particularly care because I'm not a Twilight fan. I am aloud some creative tweaking of characters I only know some basics about. Hence, why I've staid within the supporting role list up until now. I don't know much about the Twilight author chick's writing but I hear the background characters are a bit under developed allowing for me to play all I want without holy retubution from avid fans. Right, hope you liked it even if there wasn't much of a plot development in this chapter since it was more character developing. I will warn y'all that the next two or three chapters are pretty scrunched together and it will be a lot of plot developing in it so be prepared. Until then Chow oh and don't forget to make me happy by, you guessed it:

REIVEW!!....ing