A/N: Hello all...so far you all are liking the new Bella and wondering what is going to happen to her and Edward...all in due time, I promise! No playlist this week, sorry!

Chapter 21

Bella

I rushed back to the house. The only thing on my mind was Charlie. I didn't want him to suffer in any way. I guess I never thought it through enough. Not that it was really up to me. I mean, I had made provisionary plans had it happened with Edward, but this whole thing from Riley to Tanya had gone awry, and there simply was no planning time. Before, that our plan was we would get married, go off to some far away college, and give me time to deal with things before I had to decide what to do. Now all of that had changed, and I had to decide what to do without any time to plan.

I worried about the feelings of the rest of my family now. They all knew Charlie, but would his profession make a difference in how he felt about things? Would they want me to tell a human? Would they allow me to still see him? I guess there was no point in making plans until I spoke with my family to see how they all thought about things.

I stopped the bike in front of the garage, and Edward walked out to meet me. "Hey, you feel better?" he asked, as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Yea, I could ask the same of you though." I mimicked his action and ran a hand through my tangled hair as well.

He smirked and almost laughed, but it came out as a snort. "Yeah, I guess I'm fine. They're waiting on you, looks like we need to have a family talk." He put air quotes around talk, and that scared the hell out of me. I must have shown it in my expression, because he began to talk again. "Hey, it's no big deal. We always handle big decisions like this; I thought you knew that by now." He smoothed his hand down my arm, and grasped my hand to pull me into the house with him.

I felt every single pair of eyes in the house on our joined hands as we walked into the dining room for our talk. All except one looked happy, but to be honest, I didn't expect Jacob to be happy about any part of my situation, so that was to be expected.

"Jacob." He stiffened at the difference of my voice. I guess my appearance wasn't enough to remind him of my change.

"Bella." He stood very stiffly at the doorway.

Carlisle stepped in between the two of us to break the tense stare, and Edward led me around to our seats. "Jacob thanks for coming. My name is Carlisle Cullen. I knew your grandfather. He was a great man, and I respected him a great deal." Jacob gave a small nod of his head to Carlisle, so he continued to talk. "I know this must be hard for you in more ways than one." Carlisle turned, and looked over his shoulder at me. "We want you to know that you are safe here. I made a pact all those years ago, and I do not intend to break that. I keep my word."

Jacob shoved off of the door frame and advanced towards Carlisle. Emmett stood, Carlisle held up a hand to stop him. "You broke that treaty." Jacob's eyes shifted, and landed on Edward as he spoke the second part. "You think because you followed her to Seattle, that we would let that go? Do you really think we were that stupid?" Edward didn't say a word, but I couldn't hold it in. I stepped between the two of them, and broke the eye contact.

"What the hell do you know? Nothing! He didn't follow me anywhere! Alice rescued me, and Tanya Denali misunderstood. She came to Seattle; she changed me, not Edward. Besides, I think you gave up the right to question anyone when you imprinted on someone else." All eyes in the room widened at the knowledge that Jacob had abandoned me. I didn't want sympathy from them, I was a vampire now. I could take care of myself. "Now, I can take care of myself, I don't need your help anymore," I spat at him.

His eyes turned towards me, and I saw the tears that swam to the surface in them. "Bella…I had no control over that, you know that. Please…" he begged. He really did look pained at the accusations I made, but I couldn't care less. I was done with what everyone else felt. It was time for me to look out for me and me alone.

"Besides, why don't you tell me exactly how you knew about my change anyway?" I looked down at my nails, and faked my boredom. If he was done with me, then I wanted him to know I was done with him as well. I was a fucking vampire, and I didn't need him or his protection any longer.

"Seth was on a run through the woods. We didn't know you all were back, so we had extended our patrol area. A few nights ago, he saw you take down a deer or two. He came back and told me." Jacob began to pace as he spoke, it was a habit I recognized, he had always done it. Whenever the subject was a serious matter, Jacob paced when he spoke about it. "The next day, Charlie showed up and told me that you were missing. He kicked my ass for it, too. He told me it was my fault for breaking up with you." Jake pushed off of the wall again and stepped forward. Emmett, Jasper, and Edward all three moved in sync with him. I pushed Edward out of the way, and stepped right up nose to nose with Jake.

"Well, he's right, Jake. My life might have turned out differently, that is for sure. Not that I'm unhappy here or like this, because I'm not. So, what exactly do we need to talk about with you?" I dropped back down in my seat, and the guys relaxed along with me.

"Well, Charlie's a mess. He's so worried, Bella. I wanted to know if there was a way we could compromise or something." He looked from me to Carlisle.

"What did you have in mind, Jacob?" Carlisle asked politely.

"I want to be able to talk to Charlie. The way I see it, she's all he has left, and I'm afraid this would kill him to not know what happened to her. Given his long history with my father and our tribe, I wanted to sort of out myself to him. It is not really against any rules for him to know about me. So, I figured that if I told him about me, then I could tell him that Bella was alive. But he couldn't ask any questions. He just simply has to take it at face value and be okay with that. I think Charlie can do that…for Bella, that is," Jacob spoke to Carlisle until he got to that point, then he turned to look at me. I had no doubt that he spoke the truth. I had heard Charlie enough to know that he felt I was his last tie, his last one meaningful relationship. "That would give him peace of mind to know that she was okay and alive, of sorts, and he won't ask any questions. So technically no rules will be broken by you either."

I hoped that the rest of my new family would agree with Jake's suggestion, because I wanted to see my dad. I wanted to reassure him that things were good for me.

"I disagree, Charlie's a cop, and it is in a cop's nature to ask questions about things that they don't know. I don't think it will work." Rose crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke. Her posture screamed closed off and unwilling to budge on the subject.

"Rose, if it were anyone else other than Bella, I agree. But I think for Bella, Charlie would do whatever he had to do just to keep her in his life, and know how well she was doing." Jasper spoke up for me and Charlie. I appreciated it so much, because I wanted to get to see him and let him know that I was indeed fine and would always be fine from now on.

Carlisle looked up at Jacob. "Jacob, can you give us time to talk about this, and we'll get back to you with our answer?" Jake nodded, and moved from the doorway to leave. I rushed out of my seat, and caught up to him in a matter of seconds.

"Jacob, wait." I laid a hand on his arm. When he turned to look at me, I softened. He looked more like my friend, not the angry wolf that was our enemy. I ached to have my friend back, but I just wasn't sure that would ever happen now, given our situation. "How are you and Nessa?"

"Fine." His rough voice responded, and then softened as well. "We're fine. She talks about you all the time; she tries to get me to talk about you." His hands dropped down and slapped his thighs. "Did I do this to you? Did I really push you to this?" The tension and frustration was clearly evident as he asked, while he waved his hand up and down my body.

"Jake, you didn't do anything. It just happened. I don't regret it at all, you shouldn't either." I smiled at him, and he returned it. "I do miss you though. I'm glad you guys are doing well. Tell Nessa I said hi, okay?" He just nodded as I opened the door for him; it was time for him to go…he had stunk up the house.

They all patiently waited for me to return before we discussed the situation. Jasper started when I stepped into the room. "I agree with Jake, Charlie will let it go if Jake assures him that this is the only way he can be part of her life." Several heads out of the group nodded their agreement with Jasper. I was overjoyed by the possibility of actually getting to see my dad again. "I think we should meet him in a neutral spot and let Jake tell, or rather, show him. Then Bella can come out. We'll be there to protect her from the wolves or Charlie from her, whichever the case may be. Sorry, darling." I just nodded at him. I mean, yeah, Jake wasn't a threat because he stunk so damned bad, but Charlie, well, that was another subject.

"I agree with Jasper and Jacob." Esme stood, and came around to lay her hand on my shoulder. "Bella has done enough for us that we owe this much to her. I say let's do it." Alice stood, and walked around to me as well.

"I also agree."

Emmett jumped up, and ran to me. He picked me up and spun me in a circle. "Hell yeah, I agree! That will give me an excuse to pick a fight with the wolves; I've wanted a piece of them for years now."

Carlisle agreed as well. Not that it mattered, since the majority ruled by this time, but we had yet to hear from Edward and Rosalie. Rosalie I already knew what she thought since she spoke up before, but with Edward, I was blank.

I looked at him, and he reached out to grab my hand. I had no idea if it was in assurance or in comfort. I held still, and waited for him. "I think that Bella is trustworthy enough to allow her to make her decision on this subject. I do agree with Jasper though, so my feeling is yes, we allow it." I squealed, and ran the few steps to him. He engulfed me in a hug as I buried my face against his chest.

His smell I remembered, but with my new senses, I could detect about three or four more faint scents that I never did as a human. It still smelled exactly like him. I looked up, and found his eyes locked on me.

"Thank you so much." I pretty much just mouthed the words, but I knew he heard me. His smile told me he did. I froze when he leaned down, and kissed my temple.

"You deserve it. You've been through enough," he whispered into my ear.

I just nodded. I wanted to read into the kiss and words, but I couldn't let my guard down right now. He kissed Esme, Alice, and Rose in the same manner that he had just kissed me, so I couldn't allow my brain the freedom to read into it.

"Okay, so I'll call Billy and Jacob to talk things over with them. Do you have any requests in regards to all of this Bella?" Carlisle asked me. I stepped away from Edward, and shook my head.

A few seconds later, I heard him talking on the phone. I took off to my room under the guise of changing my clothes, but it was really just to give myself some distance. Before I did something I shouldn't do, at least not yet. I had to take care of Charlie first; then I could worry about me and my life.

E/N:Does this chapter help? BTW, my little entry in the Taste of the Forbidden contest, they are in my favorite authors list, go check out the entries! Leave me some love and I will see you next week!