A/N: So many of you reading my story, so little reviews! Wonder why? Really if there is just one little detail that you smile, laugh, nod, say wow to, anything at all, please I'd like to hear it!

One more day 'til the big road trip! Who's excited? Me-me-me! Charlie's in the driver seat and he's gonna get an earful from Bella next chapter!

Just finding this story? Invites to read my one-shot, "I'll Bring The Wine."

Thanks to **Lori** She loves her some QAing!

Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, and I appreciate her allowing the fans to toy with the ideas her books have inspired. I've read some wonderful stories by the fans! No copyright infringement intended for songs. Songs and lyrics belong to Roxette.

Charlie's POV

November 7

"Bells I've got some errands to run this morning, but this afternoon I was going to drop my truck off at La Push, so I was hoping you could follow me there and give me a ride home."

"Sure, I guess. Why are you dropping your truck off there?" she asked.

"Jacob's going to take a look at it for me and give it a tune up."

I secured things at the station the best I could and stopped at Newton's for a new pair of boots, getting home in time to have lunch.

"Ready to head to La Push? You haven't seen Jacob in a while. I bet he'll be glad to see you." She nodded in agreement as we headed out the door and into the driveway. "Oh, and I saw Mike at the store today. He said to tell you to give him a call if you aren't doing anything tonight."

She rolled her eyes in response as she got into her truck.

"What? I thought you liked him?" I asked.

"Strictly as a friend, Dad," she responded.

I laughed. "Well then, good thing I told him I was keeping you occupied for the next few days." I smiled, knowing she was continuing to converse with me.

She followed me closely down the road to La Push.

After reading Renee's journal entries, I wanted to see for myself what Billy's reaction was to Bella around Jacob. Nothing ever really struck me as odd before, though I'll admit when it came to the games being on and Billy and Jacob hanging out in the past, I've never been real observant.

I pulled onto the reservation and made my way over to Billy's house. I met Bella at her truck before she had a chance to get out.

"Bells, do me a favor and don't mention our trip tomorrow, okay? Billy's never been much of a fan."

"Yeah, I know Dad."

"You do?" I said surprised to hear this.

"Yeah, Ehhh…Ehd-ward told me once."

She barely got out his name. I needed to remember to talk to her about that for tomorrow. She was going to need a pep talk to pull herself together. Who was I kidding? I was going to need one, too.

Billy and Jacob greeted us. Billy was full of smiles when Jacob hugged Bella.

"Hey Bella! Where've you been?" Jacob flashed a wide grin at Bella.

"Oh, you know, around, I guess," Bella said quietly.

"Well, you haven't been around here enough," Billy said. "I would have thought you would have more time with the Cullens gone." He leered at Bella, almost like he was looking for a response.

Oh boy. Great. Here we go. He had to bring up the Cullens, didn't he. I put my arm around Bella in an effort to crutch her. She almost collapsed into me.

"Well, I've been keeping her busy at the house, I suppose, and making sure she gets her homework done and all." I felt her straighten up.

"So Jacob, I really appreciate you tuning up the truck. It's long overdue."

"Sure, sure Charlie. I'll have it in tip-top shape in a couple of hours."

"Great Jake, I'd appreciate it. Hey Bells, did you know Renee used to like to bring you to First Beach when you were little?" I threw out my bait.

"Ummm..yeah."

"Billy, you remember don't you?"

"Oh sure. Those were great days having Bella here on the reservation. I always knew she would be back someday." Billy grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"Why is that?" I baited him further.

"She was never meant to go away to begin with. Now Bella, how's your truck running?"

"Fine," Bella replied.

"Excellent. You can thank Jacob for that. He put a lot of time and effort into that truck. It's nice to know someone we feel so close to is putting it to use. Isn't that right, Jacob?"

"Yeah. I'm just lucky someone else was willing to take that old monster off our hands." Jacob laughed.

"It's a classic!" I threw the words out there to keep things light.

"Hey Billy, do me a favor? Take a picture of Bells and I." I pulled out my camera and turned to look at her. "You okay with a picture?"

"Now? Umm, I guess," she replied.

"Good. Here ya go Billy. You just push that button right there."

I put my arm around Bella and stood next to the truck. Billy snapped the picture.

"Got it! How about one of Bella and Jacob now?" Billy asked.

"Sure, but just one more of me and Bells. I think I might have blinked." I smirked.

Billy took another picture and with that the camera started to rewind itself.

"Whoops, sorry I guess I only had two pictures left on this roll of film. Hmmmm. I guess I should get one of those newfangled digital cameras like Bella got for her birthday. You got your camera with you Bells?"

"No, Dad."

"Sorry Jacob. We'll have to take a rain check on that picture." I mentally noted Billy's facial expression change. His face dropped.

"Sure, next time!" Jacob beamed. "Maybe when you come to pick up the truck we can get one then."

"Alright, Bells, are you ready to go?" She nodded. "You driving?" She nodded again.

We said goodbye and headed back home. I was really impressed with Bella's driving, though I could have mistaken her quiet demeanor for her being intently focused on the road. I knew better at this point. She had been better, more responsive since I found those things under the floorboards, but she definitely was not back to normal. I was starting to worry about what we would find on our road trip. Maybe we wouldn't find him, let alone any of them. If that was the case, would she retreat within herself again? Could she become worse? I don't think I could stand to see her go catatonic again.

"Listen Bells, are you sure about our little trip tomorrow?" I asked. "I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you."

"Dad, you're not. I want to go."

"Bells, you need to be prepared for a few things. I don't know what to expect out there. I can only tell you what I expect from you."

"I know, Dad."

"No Bells, you don't know. Neither one of us know. But I want for you to say whatever it is you need to say, whatever it is that you think you didn't say yet—whether that's to Edward or any of them. I just think you need to be prepared that even though you are speaking up for yourself it might not change anything."

She kept her eyes focused straight ahead on the road.

"And I'm telling you right now, if it does change something, you aren't leaving Forks until after you graduate high school. Agreed?"

"Yeah," she agreed as we pulled into the driveway.

I think I needed to work on my pep talk skills. Maybe tomorrow's talk would go more smoothly. She went in and directly up to her room. I heard the piano recital start as I grabbed myself a Vitamin R and sat on the couch wondering how things were going to go tomorrow. With that, the phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hi. Mr. Swan. This is Angela Weber. Is Bella there?"

"Sure. It's nice to hear from you Angela. Tell your parents I said hello. Hold on a minute." I pulled my chin away from the phone. "Hey Bells, Angela is on the phone."

"I will. Is Bella okay?" she asked me.

"Well, I'm hoping she will be soon. Just be patient with her, okay?"

"Sure," she responded. With that, Bella appeared in the kitchen and took the phone. I stepped out of the kitchen and tried to listen.

"Hey Angela, thanks for calling me back. What are you up to this weekend?" She paused to listen. "That sounds like fun. I wanted to know if you wouldn't mind writing down my assignments tomorrow. I won't be in school." She paused again. "No, I'm fine. My dad and I just have some stuff to do." She paused again. "Okay. Thanks so much Angela. Tell everyone I said hello."

When she turned, I was standing in the kitchen doorway. I smiled acknowledging what she was doing.

"That was really responsible of you, Bells. Tomorrow morning I'll call the school and tell them you might be out for a couple days."

She smiled and hugged me. "Thanks," she told me and then headed back up to her room.

About an hour later, the phone rang again. I answered it only to hear Jacob tell me that my truck needed a little more than a tune up and a new part from a store that wouldn't be open until tomorrow. I told him to hang onto the truck for a couple of days and that I would be fine with using my cruiser until he got it fixed. I thanked Jacob and was about to hang up when he asked if he could talk to Bella.

"Bells, honey, Jacob is on the phone--he wants to talk to you," I called upstairs. I could hear the piano music playing again.

"Tell him I'm busy or something," she yelled down to me.

"Jake, I think she's gonna have to get back to you."

I knew she was busy. She was busy preparing herself for tomorrow. I chugged my Vitamin R down and grabbed another one out of the frig. I realized I needed a whole lot more than a new pair of boots to be prepared for tomorrow, but for me, the Vitamin R pep talk was the best I was going to get.

Fyshnikki-I wasn't able to PM you like I have the other reviewers, but I wanted to say thank you to you! Your enthusiasm means a lot!

You can get a personal thank you too, just leave me a review.

Do you just love Charlie? My story need a tune up? Got a Vitamin R pep talk for me? Leave me word.