This Is Not My Life Chapter 14 The Great Search, a twilight fanfic

A/N: Two chapters in one week! I'm like a machine! Thanks to all the reviewers and readers for your continued support. Note to self: Never promise update on specific day again. I will have the next one posted as soon as I can, but I won't promise a day. Apparently deadlines give me writer's block, which is why I only just finished this chapter this morning, and am posting it unbeta'ed in my haste to get it to you. So please no harsh criticisms on my horrid punctuation.

This chapter picks up immediately after the last one ended.

Chapter 14: The Great Search

EPOV

Squeezing it tightly, I wondered if Lily missed him. Selfishly, I wondered if she missed me, as well. My chest hurt at the thought of him convincing her I was the bad guy somehow. I shook my head of the thought. She knows how much I love her. She knows she is my whole world. Feeling the tears burning in my eyes, I shut them as tight as I could, desperate to rein in my emotions. Rubbing my face dry of my tears, I stood and walked to her wardrobe, then thought better of it, and went to her hamper instead. Clothes that she had recently worn would carry her scent better, wouldn't they? I snatched it up, unsure of exactly how much of her clothing they might want, deciding to just bring them all. As I started to leave the room, I swiped Snuffles off the bed.

I'm saving this to give to her as soon as I find her.

Flicking the light off, I shut the door behind me, filled with determination.

Lily, Bella…I'm coming for you.

*******

By the time I was on the highway, it was already dark, but I made good time to Port Angeles, calling on the way to put Jasper and Mom's mind at ease. I was a bit surprised I was able to hold it together, but that probably had something to do with the fact that I was now a man on a mission. I had purpose.

Charlie decided on the Quality Inn because it was a couple of blocks over from the police station. Pulling into the parking lot, I checked my texts to see which room number I was looking for. 104. We would be sleeping here tonight, and then starting out first thing in the morning. Parking next to Alice's Porsche, I stepped out quickly, grabbing my backpack from the backseat and walking up to the room. I could hear their voices from outside. Rapping loudly, I shuffled on my feet, feeling the day's strenuous toll catch up with my body.

The door flew open to reveal a clusterfuck of activity in the room. Rosalie, my dad, and brothers were huddled around a table, where Charlie was leaning over the maps spread across it, drawing lines and circling different areas. My mother was stuffing supplies into the packs, charging up the walking talkies and navigators, and Alice walked away from me to a dresser, setting up what looked like Charlie's police scanner.

"Um, hey guys," I started, unsure of where to begin.

Charlie looked up, startled, with a possessed look in his eye. Chief Swan was in his element. He waved me over hurriedly. "Great, Edward, you're here. We've just started coordinating our maps toge-" The shrill ringing of his phone interrupted him. He flipped it open and answered brusquely.

"Chief Swan here."

He listened intently for a moment, when a huge grin broke out across his face. "YES! Thank you Stan, I really appreciate you doing this for-"

As he spoke, I made my way inside the room, setting my backpack on the bed, and moving over to the maps to see what they had been doing.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'd do the same for you, but still, this is a big help-"

"Then great. 0500 hours tomorrow. Bye, Stan." He snapped his phone shut, still beaming from ear to ear.

"We've got a chopper," he began. "My friend Stan used to work on the force, and he's still got his license. We're convening at the Port Angeles Police Department tomorrow, and Edward, you and I will be going up with him to perform an aerial search. Carlisle, you and yours will be spread out on the ground with my Quileute friends." He looked back down to the maps in front of him, marking various start points.

"Aw, man, Charlie! I want to go up in the helicopter!" Emmett whined.

I rolled my eyes, as did Charlie. "Sorry, Emmett. We can only have two passengers in the chopper. We have to leave room for Bella and Lily when we find them." My eyes widened in surprise as he said this. He was putting a lot of faith in this search. I wanted to as well, but he sounded so sure. I envied him that.

"Edward's the clear choice, seeing as it's not only his daughter we're looking for, but he's also a doctor. If they need medical assistance, he's the man to do that."

"Fine," Emmett grunted, as Rose rolled her eyes and patted his hand.

"Alright, Carlisle. We'll need to get an early start tomorrow morning. The La Push pack should be here by around 0400, so I'll be helping the lot of you set up. Esme, have you finished packing?" Charlie asked.

"I…I think so, Charlie," she huffed as she struggled with the zipper on the last backpack.

"Would you like some help, dear?" my dad smirked.

She narrowed her eyes at him as she spoke. "Oh, yes, my big strong man. Please, come save me from the zipper."

He started to walk over to her when she finally got the zipper to give. She arched her brow at him, smirking at him. "Well, look at that, dear. It heard you coming and cowered in the face of your brute strength."

"Okay, okay. We need to get something in our stomachs, and then get some shut eye. We've got to rise early tomorrow, and it'll be a long day," Charlie laughed.

"Ooh! Right, food! It's probably ready, I ordered it when we were on the way. Jasper and I will go pick it up now," Alice chirped, as she bounced for the doorway. "Chinese is okay with everybody, right? I got all the favorites. It's just down the street, we'll be right back!" she called, dragging Jasper out behind her.

Charlie closed the door behind them, shaking his head in amusement at Alice's antics. "Here, Edward. Let me catch you up to speed."

He motioned me over to the table and I took a seat as Emmett moved aside to plop onto the bed. Charlie started pointing at the map in front of me. "You and I are going to be in the chopper with Stan. He's retired Search-and-Rescue, and he was one of the best I ever worked with. He's reviewing his grid patterns tonight so he'll be ready to take off straight into the air tomorrow morning. We'll be looking for any and all dwellings not registered as residences with the county. Obviously we'll also be looking for the girls, but the forests are pretty dense, and if it rains tomorrow like it's supposed to, we're looking at even lesser visibility. Do you have a medical kit with you, or should we contact the local EMS teams to see if we can borrow one?"

Scratching my neck roughly, I tried to absorb everything he was telling me. "Yeah, I've got my bag, it's in the car. It's pretty basic, though."

He nodded his head, thinking it over. "We should probably still see if we can get some equipment from an EMS. I'll go make a couple of calls now." He strode away from me, dialing away on his phone.

I was left to myself, and kicked my shoes off to try and get more comfortable. Today had been a really long day. I heard the TV click on, as Emmett started searching for a baseball game. Rose was sprawled out next to him on the bed, and I noticed for the first time there where only two beds in the room.

"So where's everybody sleeping?" I called out.

"We've got another room just like this one next door. Your brothers are taking that one, and you, your father and I will be in this one. Charlie booked himself a single the next room over," my mother smiled as she sat down at the table across from me.

"Alright," I nodded tiredly.

"Are you okay, Edward?" she asked softly.

I furrowed my brow at her, confused at her concern. "Huh?"

"I was worried to leave earlier…I was afraid it would be too hard for you…But your father insisted that I leave you be…" She trailed off, pursing her lips.

Earlier…Lily's room.

Swallowing the lump in my throat at the very thought of her name, I answered. "No, Mom. I was fine. He was right, I just needed a minute. And I was okay, I got what we needed. I didn't know how I'd handle it either, but I did. Handle it, that is."

Her eyes lit up, shining. "You've been so strong through all this, Edward. I know I've told you this a thousand times, I've told your father, and anyone else who wants to listen, but…Seeing you grow up and the father you've become…it's more than I ever dreamed of. I'm so proud of the loving man you've grown up to be. And the beautiful little child she is…that's all due to you, Edward. You've raised her up with your love to make her that person, and…I guess I just wanted to make sure you knew that. And I really, really love you, baby."

"She's right, son." My dad's hand clapped gently down on my shoulder, seemingly from out of nowhere. "God knows we'll brag on you and your accomplishments to anyone within hearing distance, but you should know that straight from us. We're happy you've grown up to be a gentleman, and I was pleased when you chose to follow in my footsteps as a doctor. But my greatest pride in life has been to see the success you have become as a father. And what you've been dealing with these last few weeks…You've shown greater strength than anyone could ever have thought. More than I could ever have hoped to have."

My mother grasped my hands tightly as I fought back tears at my parents' heartfelt words. "Thank you," I rasped, choking down the tears in my throat. My chest swelled with the pride they held in me. I couldn't decide which opinion I appreciated more. I was a complete mama's boy, and her love and acceptance were something I could never and would never take for granted, but my father…He was who I had aspired after my whole life. He taught me everything…How to treat a woman, how to be a man, how to be a doctor, how to be a father…

"Alright, so the local hospital will be sending down some supplies along with some volunteers in the…I'm interrupting something, aren't I?" Charlie asked sheepishly.

I coughed quietly, focusing intently on the floor. "No, no, Charlie. You said the hospital is sending some volunteers, then? That's great!" I sniffled a bit, but tried to muffle the sound with my hand.

His face was a bit red, but he carried on. "Uh, right. I mean, yes, they are. Between Seattle PD, my police department, and the Port Angeles police department, we've got quite the crew forming. When you add in the La Push pack…"

"Charlie, sorry, but you keep saying pack, and I've got to ask…Are we talking dogs or people? Because I just can't tell from what you've said so far," I interrupted.

He snickered a bit. "Sorry. Actually it means both. My friends down on the reservation are coming to help, and they're bringing their dogs. I've used them in search-and-rescues before. The tribe is mythically supposed to be descended from the wolf, and they have an abundance of them on their lands. They've cross bred them over the years with German Shepherds to make a really powerful search animal. They're huge, but more domestic than wild or captive wolves, and the noses on those boys….If Bella and Lily are in the woods, those dogs'll find 'em."

"That's awesome, Charlie."

We were disrupted by the force of Alice entering the room, daintily carrying a couple of bags of Chinese food, followed by Jasper, her pack-mule. She turned off the TV with a flourish, earning her a yell from Emmett, as she set down all the food on top of the dresser. "Move those maps, Charlie, so we'll have more room to eat," she ordered.

He raised his eyebrows at her as he shook his head, smiling to himself. Moving aside all the maps carefully onto the other bed, he folded them up gingerly, to avoid smudging any of the markings.

"Alright!' she yelled. "Emmett, here's three orders of Kung Pao chicken with fried rice, they tried to give me steamed and I made sure they changed it, Rose, here's your orange chicken. This is mine," she muttered, setting aside a container, "and this one's Jasper's…Mom, here's your cashew chicken, Dad, here's your sweet'n'sour pork, Edward, here's your Szechuan beef, and Charlie, here is your combination fried rice with egg drop soup."

He took it from her with an incredulous look on his face. "Alice, how did you…"

She patted his cheek. "Charlie, I'm Alice. I know everything. Eat up, and then off to bed with you!" She shooed him away, and then turned back to her own container to dig in.

The room was silent except for everyone chewing, well in Emmett's case it was more like inhaling, and once we had all eaten more than we should have it was time for bed. As everyone filed out except for my parents, Charlie stopped at the door.

"Try and get some sleep, Edward. We're going to need to be running on all cylinders tomorrow."

I nodded to him, then shut the door behind him as he walked out. Turning back to my parents, I was really in no mood for anything at the moment except sleep. I smiled to them, and set my alarm for 3:30 the next morning, and fell asleep on top of the covers, clothes and all.

I jumped up at the sound of the alarm blaring the next morning, panting heavily as the remnants of my last dream filtered out of my mind. We had found them, but…I shuddered, refusing to recall it. Rubbing my eyes, I decided a shower was the best way to start this day. Now that I was more awake, a buzz of excitement was running through my body. I felt like a live wire.

Washing and dressing quickly, my parents were barely starting to stir as I made my way out of the room down to Charlie's. Not surprisingly, he was already awake, and ushered me in his room swiftly.

"I didn't think I'd have to worry about you oversleeping," he stated gruffly.

Laughing shakily, I muttered, "No. Not fucking likely."

"My friends from La Push should be here soon. We'll help them get coordinated, until it's time for us to go the station. I figure we'll head down about 4:45 to make sure we don't keep Stan waiting."

"Alright. What all needs to be done to get everybody on the ground set up?"

He stretched his arms above his head. "Well, they'll need to make sure all the walkie talkies are on the same frequency. They'll be using a buddy system, and each member of your family will be paired up with one of the more experienced searchers. Depending on how many dogs they bring, it could be one dog per pair, maybe less. They'll spread out across the area and search from daybreak to sundown. The police here on the ground will be taking charge of that search, while you and I are up in the air."

"And how long will we be up there?"

"Well, short of a hurricane, we should be able to search through any rain that falls today. After my calls last night, I was able to get a hold of a Med-vac chopper for Stan to use today. Those things can cover over 500 square miles without refueling. Be prepared to be up in the sky all day."

I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Do you have Lily's things? Billy just texted me. The Quileute are here."

"No, shit, they're in my room. I'll meet you in the parking lot in just a minute." I flew out of the room, back to my own, where my parents were almost finished getting ready.

"Hey. The Quileute are here. Start getting everything together, okay?" I grabbed my bags and flew back out, without waiting for a reply.

Striding out to the lot, I saw Charlie greeting a man in a wheelchair. He looked like a weathered version of Jake, so I assumed this was Billy. I walked over to introduce myself, but stopped short as I saw Jake get out of the front cab of a truck. I looked to Charlie to assess his reaction.

His jaw tightened, and he glared down at Billy, who held his hands up in surrender. "Charlie, I couldn't stop him. He's only here to help. I've already made him promise he's not to talk to Bella. At all. But you can't turn away an extra pair of feet on the ground. Besides, Leah's the best bitch of the pack, and only Jake can control her."

He shook his head in response, muttering something about, "bastards and bitches going together," but I wasn't sure, and he didn't look like he was going to argue. Billy did have a point.

"Hi, I'm Edward Cullen." I stuck my hand out to shake his, and he had a strong, warm grasp.

"Billy Black, tribe elder. We're glad to be helping you out today."

"Thank you." I nodded to him politely.

Turning back to Charlie, he spoke. "So, old man. The rest of the tribe is gathering over on Elwha Bluff, ready to make a perimeter of the forest from there down to Edgewood. I understand the police are meeting them there?"

Snapping out of his glare towards Jacob, he glanced back at Billy. "Yeah, that's right. Are you going to being staying here with the other Cullens to man the fort for us?"

Billy smirked. "Well, I'd be joining in on the hike, but I left my boots at home, and I'd hate to get these shoes dirty."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Always such a smart ass."

"You know it! Now where's the rest of this family?" He raised his eyebrow at me, and I shrugged, not really sure where my family was.

No sooner had the thought entered my head, when the door next to my room burst open, with Alice pushing out a very sleepy Emmett and Jasper. Rose followed behind looking like she was dressed for a Grizzly Adams Playboy shoot. Tight pants and flannel, with a knife strapped to the outside of her leg. She was strapping her pack around the front, and I noticed Jake's eyes were glued to her chest. I seethed. He would not be her 'buddy' for the day. She was practically my sister.

And seriously? Is this guy incapable of thinking with anything besides his dick?

I wanted to say something to him, but Rose, as usual, beat me to it. "Hey! Eyes up here, Casanova!" She pointed both of her middle fingers towards her face, and everyone burst into laughter, except Charlie, who shook his head in disgust towards Jacob's actions.

Jake's head jerked up, and flushed deep crimson at being caught.

Billy wheeled over to him, and motioned for him to lean in. Jake rolled his eyes, but complied. Billy popped him in the back of the head and then rolled back over to us. He apologized, "Housebreaking is a tricky business, but we're working on it."

Charlie managed a smile at that, but then got down to business. "Alright, alright. It's time to head down there. We'll help you get set up as best we can, and then we've got to be back at the police station by 4:45."

Billy shook his head. "Charlie, that's pointless. Jake and the Cullens will go ahead and head over that way now, while I get settled into base here. By the time you make it out there, you'll just have to turn around and come right back."

"But I-"

"But you just want to make sure you get to micromanage everyone out of their flippin' mind. I'm pretty sure the cops and the tribe should be able to figure this out without you. Go, Charlie. You need to find that girl. I haven't had any lasagna in over a month, and I'm starting to get the shakes."

Charlie snorted, but nodded. "Alright, old man, you made your point. But I'm getting first dibs on the lasagna. She is my daughter after all."

"Charlie, we both know she's always loved me more. But I'll let you lie to yourself if it makes you feel better."

Charlie rolled his eyes as he reached into his bag, pulling out Bella's clothes. He started to hand them over to Jake, but stopped himself, instead turning to Jasper. Jake looked quite dejected at the snub. Serves him fucking right.

I handed the bag of Lily's clothes over to my dad as he walked over with my mother, keeping my other backpack which held her Snuffles inside. That's my secret. Everyone started loading up into their cars as Alice bounced over and started pushing Billy towards the room with the scanner, chatting his ear off about Bella's books. He looked back at Charlie and me, but we just shrugged. Get used to it.

Charlie looked to me as they pulled away. "Well, we might as well head down to the station. Get a cup of coffee in our systems before we take off. But don't drink too much. We won't be landing for bathroom breaks."

My eyes widened as I realized I would likely be peeing into a container while riding in a helicopter with two men for the day, but it was a small price to pay. We headed to my Volvo and climbed in, making our way down the street to the police station. It was much smaller than the one in Seattle, but it seemed to fit right in with the rest of the town. As we pulled up, Charlie pointed to the top of the building. "The chopper should be all ready to go. We'll take off from there, and head west. Stan should be here soon enough."

Turning off my ignition, we both climbed out, heading inside. Looking up and down the street, I couldn't help but hear the Andy Griffith theme song in my head. I chuckled to myself, which earned me a curious look from Charlie, but he didn't say anything. Probably for the best.

We made our way back to a small kitchen area, I following behind Charlie as he seemed to know his way around. We grabbed a cup of coffee, and the bitter taste did more to wake me up than the caffeine ever could. Sitting at a small table in silence, my leg was bouncing with the anticipation of being up in the air. A few minutes later, a man about Charlie's age with salt and pepper hair walked in. Grinning when he saw us, I could only assume this was Stan.

"Charlie Swan! Good to see you!"

Charlie looked up and beamed at him in return. "Stan Fletcher! I was afraid I'd have to fly the thing into Forks myself to wake you up!"

Stan chortled deep in his rounded belly. "Ha! You couldn't even get that thing turned on, let alone fly it. Takes a man of supreme intellect, you know."

Charlie stood to shake his hand. "You need a cup of coffee before we get started out?"

Stan shook his head. "I had a cup on my way over. I'm just going to talk to the chief here, and make sure everything's clear for takeoff and go through all my checks. Meet me up in about ten minutes, alright? Sorry, by the way, I didn't introduce myself. Stan Fletcher, helicopter pilot extraordinaire. You must be Edward Cullen, yeah?" He stuck his hand out to meet mine with a firm shake.

"Pleased to meet you. Thank you for doing this for us."

He waved me off. "No need to thank. This is what I'm good at. Saves me from a day of honey-dos from the Missus. Alright. I'll see you two in a few."

He walked away down a hall, and Charlie and I were left to our silence once more.

"He's a good man."

I looked up to Charlie. "Uh, yeah. He seems like it."

"He's the best at what he does, or did. A couple of years back we had a search for a little girl lost in the woods outside Forks. Stan was the one to find her, but…He tried everything he could, but she didn't make it. He was never the same after that, and he retired that year. I know he wants to make it seem like this isn't a big deal, but…It is."

I sat back in my chair, thinking over Stan's story. I was more grateful to him than ever now, for his selflessness in helping us. My dream from last night popped into my head for a brief second, unwelcome, but I pushed it out as hard as I could. After a few more minutes spent in silence, it was time.

"Alright, let's head up."

I stood, setting my mug in the sink, then following him as he made his way upstairs to the roof. Stepping outside, I was assaulted by the loud roar of the engine and the wind whipping me in the face from the rotor blades. Ducking our heads down, we ran inside the chopper quickly, where we were each handed a headset. Pulling it over my head, I heard the crackle as it came to life, and Stan's voice rang clearly through.

"We're heading northwest towards the Lower Elwha reservation, and then we'll be sweeping south. I had my grid patterns all set up, but we've received word of a forest fire that's started towards the center of the woods. Depending on the wind direction, we'll be making our way upwind of it, trying to get a closer look to pinpoint the coordinates to alert the authorities. Keep your eyes open. Any questions?"

"No, we're all go, Stan," Charlie said.

I sat back with the medical equipment, familiarizing myself with everything available to me, as my head reeled. A forest fire? What if they were in those woods somewhere? I kept my eyes out towards the window, ready to find any trace of them.

The flight up to the Elwha reservation didn't take very long. The sun was still rising through the heavy clouds, casting a hopeful light across our horizon. As he rounded the chopper about, we could see the smoke billowing out from the trees in the distance.

"It seems to be blowing northeast. We're going to need to circle around it, and then fly back up to get a clear view of where it's originating from," Stan called.

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, and we zoomed around the edge of the forest and made our way back up towards the smoke. As we neared the center of the smoke, Stan dictated what he could see.

"It's spreading through the trees, but it looks like it started there, in a bit of a clearing. There's some kind of debris smoldering still. I've got to call this in."

He switched the headsets over to communicate with the station, and proceeded to tell them of the coordinates and what he could see. Clicking back over to us, he shouted through the microphone, "We've got clearance to land on the river embankment just west of the forest here. We're going to set off on foot, towards the fire, while they send in the water choppers. The search team has been given the coordinates for the start of the fire, and are creating a half-circle perimeter, working their way into the forest. Edward, you'll need to bring whatever medical equipment you can carry. We need to be prepared."

I blinked at him for a good minute, before I snapped into action. Grabbing a duffel bag, I began to haphazardly throw in whatever would fit. Epi-pens, shots of adrenaline, portable defibrillator, breathing tubes, first aid, water, burn ointment…what else? I continued stuffing the duffel with everything I could get my hands on, until we reached the embankment and Stan set us down.

Flipping all the little switches on his dashboard, the roar of the engines stopped, and I could tell the blades had started slowing down. Taking off his headset, I followed suit, as did Charlie. Just as we stepped out of the chopper, it started to rain heavily. We pulled our rain jackets on with our hoods up as we strapped our bags on.

Stan shouted over the sound of the thunder and river flowing behind us. "Alright, we stick together. Here's our GPS, with the coordinates from the debris locked in. We're heading about a quarter mile into the forest here. We'll be moving northeast, and the forest is really dense, so we've got to stay close together."

We headed off for the woods, my heart pounding in my chest. I kept telling myself to not get my hopes up, that it could just be a campfire out of control. But worse was the thought that somewhere in these woods, Bella and Lily could be stuck as a raging fire worked its way towards them. I focused intently on the ground to keep from tripping, trying to remain aware of the density of the trees around me.

A few hundred feet in, a voice started coming in over our walkie talkies.

"Charlie, this is Billy, come in, over."

"Billy, this is Charlie. I hear you. Over."

"Charlie, they've just intercepted James on Edgewood Lane at the south end of the forest. He's being taken to the hospital now. Do you copy? Over."

Charlie gaped at his receiver in hand, until Stan swiped it from him.

"Billy, this is Fletcher. We copy that. Are the girls with him? Over."

"Negative. He was alone in his van. He's being taken to be treated for burns and unknown injuries. Over."

I couldn't listen anymore. What about the girls? I didn't give a damn about his injuries! Snatching the walkie talkie away from Stan, I barked. "What about the girls? Did he say anything about them?"

I waited for a beat, until Billy's voice crackled.

"From what I understand, the burning debris if for sure the house. You need to get there. The police said he's snapped, he's speaking incoherently, not making any sense. Over."

"What has he said?!" I roared. Charlie grabbed the piece away from me then, and pushed the button to talk to Billy.

"Understood, Billy. We are approximately seven hundred and fifty feet from the area. How's the fire? Over."

We started walking again now, even faster than before.

"Overhead reports are that the rain has subdued the fire from spreading any further. They're dropping some more down on the fire remaining, and it should be out by the time you reach the location…Good luck. Over."

"Thanks. Over and out." He placed the walkie talkie back in his belt loop, not dropping his gait once. We all marched forward, stumbling a bit over some of the roots. Within fifteen minutes of walking, the smell of burning wood became overpowering, and we knew we were close. Carefully, we stepped through several more trees, when we came upon it.

The remains of a wooden cabin, burnt to the ground.

Some of it was still smoldering slightly, even in the rain, but the fire in the surrounding trees had been extinguished. I could hear the roar of the water choppers slightly off in the distance, and I could see the charred skeletons of the trees surrounding the area. The roof had burned completely through, only the shell of the framework still standing, completely blackened.

Gulping heavily, I followed after Charlie as we carefully made our way around the outside of the house, seeing only a few things still intact inside. We tread lightly inside what appeared to have been a kitchen, broken glass crunching beneath our feet. There were pots and pans everywhere, the whole room looking like a tornado had swept through. Charlie took a towel from his pack to wrap around the handle of the refrigerator as he opened it.

"Some melted containers in here. The fire would have turned this into a giant oven. It doesn't look like there was much food here," Charlie deduced.

Stepping past him into a smaller room, Stan pushed through some ashes and burnt wood to reveal dozens of cans. "Looks like they had something to eat. All the labels have been burned off, though."

I continued on further into the house, looking at the brick of a fireplace in what could have been the living room, where burnt wood and remains were littered everywhere. Charlie and Stan caught up with me as we made our way down an empty smoky hallway, inspecting the former rooms of the cabin. Rain continued to fall on us through the nonexistent roof, the only sound we could hear aside from our breathing and footsteps. My heart pounded furiously in my ears, as we explored the tiny house. It was so eerie to be here now, finally to the place where my daughter had been for these last three weeks.

A charred door at our left, which was hanging by a thread to its frame, revealed a small room.

"Look at all these locks," I whispered.

Charlie visibly gulped. "This must have been where he kept them."

Walking inside slowly, I felt panic rise in my chest, at the thought of possibly finding my daughter somewhere in the remains of this house. This was her room. She had been here. But where was she now? For the first time since she was taken, I truly did not want to find her yet.

Please don't let her be here. Please don't let her be here.

The room was sparse, a blackened metal frame for a bed all that was discernible from the surrounding rubble. After a quick check in what would have been her bathroom, we walked through the empty wall frame back into the hall. Walking across, we stepped into a small room. It revealed a washer and dryer set, and a large deep freezer, all black from the smoke. There was ash all around the appliances.

"That freezer has a lock on it," Stan pointed.

My eyes zeroed in on where he pointed. I had dismissed it as simply another way for him to store food, thankful he had at least been feeding them.

"Do you think maybe he locked it so they couldn't steal food?" I asked.

Charlie never broke his gaze from it to answer. "There were no locks on that pantry…"

He walked forward slowly, and fingered the lock carefully. He pulled on it, but it didn't give. "I need something to break this off with."

Stan walked out for only a moment, and returned with a long metal rod. I looked at him questioningly, and he simply replied. "Shower."

I nodded blankly as he handed it to Charlie, who was wholly unconcerned with where the rod came from. Bracing himself, he hit at the lock once, twice, three times, before it finally snapped open. He threw the rod down on the ground behind him, and reached for the lid of the freezer with shaky hands.

"Stop," Stan said, placing a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "Just wait…Maybe I should open it, and Charlie…maybe you two should wait outside."

At his words, I panicked. "What?! What do you mean wait outside? You can't think that they're in there, can you? They're not! This is bullshit! I'll open the goddamn thing!" Rushing over before either of them could stop me, I tried to push open the freezer lid, but it seemed to be melted together. Instead of trying to stop me, Stan and Charlie both helped push the lid open.

Immediately I was overcome by the stench of burnt plastic and something else I couldn't decipher. My eyes watered from the offensive odor, and I blinked several times to clear them. As my vision became clearer, I realized Charlie was frozen next to me, staring down into the freezer. Looking for myself, I could see melted plastic, possibly once trash bags, covering the obvious form of an adult person, with a smaller form lying right beside it.

Stan broke the rigid silence. "Charlie, I'm so…"

He didn't get the chance to finish his apology before Charlie had him rammed up against the cracked beam of the wall behind him.

"Don't even fucking say it, Fletcher. You don't know that it's them. It could be the real Victoria and Abigail. You do not know that that is my daughter, so don't you dare fucking apologize to me like you know it is."

To Stan's credit, he didn't even flinch when Charlie attacked him, nor did he fight against him. He simply held himself up against the beam, looking at Charlie understandingly. "You're right, Charlie. I'm sorry. But you can't touch that. You've got to wait for forensics. We need to call them in here. I think we should go do that. Let's go outside, Charlie. You need to step away for a minute."

Charlie glared at him for a moment more, chest heaving with anger and resounding sadness, until he released him, backing away slowly. "You're right, Stan. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have handled you like that. I'm sorry."

Stan frowned and shook his head. "Let's just go outside. Edward, come on," he commanded, never taking his eyes off Charlie.

I followed them blindly out of the house, sitting down on the muddy ground as I let Stan make the call in to the police. Faintly, I heard the sounds of vomiting, and I looked up to see Charlie hunched over on his knees, just outside the house. The rainfall lightened to a mist, as I numbly waited to hear from Stan. He walked back over to me after a moment, glancing once over at Charlie, concerned.

"Er, I just spoke with the police. The search team has made their way through the forest to the south and east of here. They've found the path James created to make it to the cabin, and they're sending through the forensics team right away. The team on foot should be reaching us within the next ten minutes or so."

"So they haven't found anything yet?" I asked tonelessly.

He squinted his eyes at me. "No, but that doesn't mean they won't. Look, Edward I didn't know anything about another woman and child missing. We don't know that it's them in that freezer."

I closed my eyes and nodded. The only way I could force myself to keep breathing was to shut down. I was not allowing myself to feel anything right now.

"You should probably make sure you drink some water. You don't want to get dehydrated." He walked away to go look after Charlie, who sounded like he had stopped vomiting.

I unbuckled the straps of my backpack from around my waist, and pulled it around my front to dig out a bottle of water, when my hands hit something soft. No. Please.

My hands refused to listen to my mind's begging as they grasped the bear and pulled him out. Once my eyes saw Snuffles IV, I broke. I started weeping uncontrollably into his fur, hugging him tightly to my body. I sobbed wretchedly into him, forgetting about the outside world until the sound of dogs barking like mad began reverberating through the trees.

As a police Suburban pulled up with 'forensics' marked clearly on the side, with Marcus and Jonathan in tow, people began bursting through the trees. Most of them were dark-skinned men I recognized as Quileute, my family interspersed with them. Jake's dog came rushing forward, dragging Jake behind her as he tried to yell at her to stop. She barreled right for me, knocking me down on the ground with her massive paws, but not attacking. She sniffed all over Snuffles, and then turned her head back to Jake, whining softly.

Jake looked at me sympathetically, even if his face was still red from exertion. "Is that your daughter's?"

I grimaced, realizing his dog must have thought she found her mark. Nodding, I replied. "Sorry, I didn't mean to confuse the search that way. I never even thought about it."

Leah shot her head up, sniffing the air for a moment, and then sniffing Snuffles again. She sniffed once more in the air, and then began sticking her nose down in the dirt, pulling Jake forward as she plowed ahead. For a moment, I feared she was going to lead him to the freezer, but she never wavered from her path. Jake tried to slow her slightly, but she only growled at him once in return, and continued trudging forward.

"I think she's got something!" he shouted as she began pulling him north into the woods.

I jumped to my feet, Charlie and I running after him as he disappeared into the trees, followed swiftly by the other members of the pack.

Please gift me with your thoughts on this chapter.