Penname: Babette12
Creative Original or Derivative Fiction: Original
Rating/Warning(s): T
Notes: Charlie POV, after Jacob's visit

Disclaimer: All copyrighted, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.

Prompt: Grim Reaper

Jacob had left to 'prepare' the Cullens for me coming over. Why would they need to be prepared? I was the one in for another shock.

Bella had been sick. I could hear it in her voice over the phone. Dr. Cullen told me she had picked something up in South America and it was contagious. They were all exposed, so staying close to home to limit the exposure, but luckily none of them seemed to catch whatever it was she had. Then he told me they shipped her off to Atlanta to visit the CDC and have them try to help! Without even letting me see her! I'm her father and I don't know what I'd do if she had died without me being able to see her again.

She had looked so lovely on her wedding day, the last time I had seen her. I remembered her tears of joy as she walked down the aisle and again as she left on her honeymoon. I couldn't believe I had such a short time with her and how quickly it had flown by. And now, the grim reaper had tried to take her from me.

Jacob had explained that she hadn't been in Atlanta at all, just that it wasn't safe for me at the Cullen home. It seemed it was safe enough for him but maybe that's because of what he was. A shudder ripped through me when I relived watching Jacob transform into a huge wolf. Not any wolf, but apparently one of the wolves that had been spotted around in the spring. He explained they had been hunting what had been killing all those hikers, that it was their job, and that many of the boys from the reservation turned into them. That was the gang Bella had talked about.

Bella. My child. My heart ached over the thought that I almost lost her. Jacob said she didn't turn into a giant dog but what was she? I always thought the Cullens were good people, even if they were a bit odd. Now I knew they weren't quite human. I guess that explained why they were all so beautiful, even the men. Was it what they are that caused her to almost die? Not some disease at all? Was that why they lied about where she was? Had that boy done something to her that caused all this?

I suppose I should be relieved. She was, after all, alive. Even if she was something different, something not quite human, she was alive. I took a deep breath as I turned the cruiser into their drive. I wasn't sure what I would do but all I really cared about was seeing my daughter. And now a granddaughter, something I hadn't anticipated having for a very long time. I wasn't old enough for this but I suppose that's what I get for having a child so young, and for her marrying just as young as I had.

I pulled to a stop in front of the big white house. Everything seemed calm and quiet there. Butterflies of anxiety filled my stomach as I contemplated what I would say to these people. People who were now family but had kept my dying daughter from me. What secrets would they now reveal? Would they tell me the secrets that Bella had known all along but had kept from me as well? Were those the secrets that Billy had intimated about when that boy was gone? All while keeping secrets about his own people?

I stepped up onto the porch and took another deep breath, steeling my resolve over what was coming. I wondered how different my daughter would look, now that she was changed. Jacob said she would look more like Esme, and while that wasn't a bad thing, I wanted my child.

Squaring my shoulders and sucking in another lungful of air, I reached up and knocked on the door.

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