Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.

All plotlines, characterizations, and details in Eternally Intertwined belong to the author: Bronzehyperion. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without the author's authorization. ©2009-2010 Bronzehyperion. All rights reserved worldwide.

What happened previously.

"Bella!"

She turned to look at me. "I am sorry…" I said, defeated.

"For what?"

"For breaking my promise."

"What promise?"

"I promised I would never leave you again," I said grimly

Bella sighed and I could tell she was choking back tears.

"It's going to be okay, Edward."

She turned and got into the passenger seat.

"It has to be," she whispered.

This chapter is written in Bella's POV

CHAPTER 35: SINS OF THE FATHERS

Déjà vu was such an ugly thing.

I hated it.

I hated my ceiling; its pristine white layers mocking me like the ceiling in Edward's bedroom had done last night, while I had waited for him.

I mentioned how I hated ceilings and déjà vu, right?

I had so much more to add to my list.

I hated my father.

I hated Carlisle.

I hated fricking principal Daggett.

I hated a lot of people – the theme was fathers here - and a lot of things, it seemed. It was frustrating that one of the few people I didn't hate right now was also the one person I was not allowed to see.

I was definitely sulking in the most immature of ways.

It wouldn't be long before I'd turn eighteen and I knew that included a certain sense of growing and expressing maturity on my part, but I was very much capable of throwing a childlike tantrum if I had to.

And I had to. Charlie would not know what hit him. If he thought I was the good daughter, he had another thing coming. No way, no how was I going to let him have it easy with the bull-shit he had pulled by forbidding me to see Edward.

And no, I wasn't exaggerating. I was exhausted and angry, physically and emotionally drained. I missed Edward terribly, even though we had seen each other hours before. I missed him because it felt unnatural to be without him, especially after the past few days. I was already dreading having to go to sleep tonight alone. I needed to constantly remind myself that in the objective eye of someone else – that someone else being my father who may not be that objective at all– it made sense to be cautious about my relationship with Edward.

We really hadn't known each other for that long.

But that technicality didn't change the fact it was essential for Edward and I to be together. The bond between us was stronger and more permanent than any bond I had ever forged with someone. It wasn't some high school romance that was bound to end as soon as we graduated.

Of course, I couldn't expect Charlie to see it in any other way than in the way he wanted to see it; normal or stereotypical teen romance drama. Perhaps he was even hoping Edward and I would break up.

His actions surely spoke louder than words. Ever since we had gotten home, he made it pretty clear he didn't see the big deal about Edward and I being kept apart by him.

It would have been one thing to advise me to not see Edward until Charlie had excluded him as a person of interest in Angela's case. That I would have been able to process; Charlie being the cop who was leading the investigation Edward was a person of interest in, needed to show a large amount of objectivity and fairness. But as a father he didn't extend the same courtesy. In fact, it seemed to me he was hiding behind the fact he was a cop to make sure Edward and I couldn't see each other.

Clearly, the Chief went overboard. Keeping me away from Edward. And taking desperate measures to achieve this.

For one, Charlie had confiscated my phone.

Yes, I would eye-roll too. How very juvenile on his part. Like I'd sneak around and call Edward. Okay, I would call Edward but who could blame me. And I had no problem doing it in front of Charlie either.

All of that; calling, texting was now impossible because Charlie, clever cop, told me it would be best to take a breather from Edward and the Cullens, so he had asked me to hand it over.

Well actually, he had simply taken it.

I swear; Charlie would have gotten a kick out of living in the 18th century where daughters could be locked away instead of having to deprive me of 'flimsy technology' as he called it.

Flimsy technology – like the internet - would have been able to make this entire thing more bearable, except Edward didn't use any type of chat or messenger service. It wasn't like his chat list would overflow with friends, so why would he bother.

Two, Charlie for whatever the reason had managed to convince Carlisle and Esme that he had all the right in the world to keep their son away from his daughter. I had tried to figure out why they would agree in the first place – after all that didn't scream a lot of trust in their son on their part, now did it.

Carlisle and I hadn't spoken on the way to the police station, where he was supposed to drop me off. I'd been relieved about that. I didn't understand why Carlisle wouldn't support his son and explain to my father that Edward was innocent, and that there certainly was no reason to keep us apart. I tried to rack my brain in understanding – maybe the Cullens were afraid of exposure – but to me it came across as disloyalty towards their son. And Edward's reaction at the house before I'd left had shown this too.

Alright, so Charlie was basically stupid in my book. This wasn't a huge surprise. He was a decent cop, but as a father he was extremely biased. Up to the point of insanity.

Carlisle I never seemed to understand. He was friendly and kind but when it came to his son, I felt he had no idea who Edward was sometimes. I knew he meant well, but I felt like Carlisle was underestimating Edward and our relationship a lot of the time.

I really wanted to understand. My initial reaction after I'd heard what Charlie had demanded from Carlisle re: Edward was actual understanding. We hadn't seen each other for a few days; a lot had taken place since he'd left me alone on Friday morning. He'd been driving a long time to get home as fast as he could; he must have been tired. I had placed his demands in the category "temporary worry."

Also, I knew it had taken him a lot to deal with, the fact I had broken up with Jacob and started a relationship with Edward so soon. Maybe I had underestimated his loyalty towards Jacob. Maybe I should have waited before telling him.

But really, after he had planned that out of the area fishing trip and had believed he could dump me with the Blacks, I had no choice but to tell him about Edward. He'd seen through my pretences and had instinctively known Edward and I were dating.

Despite his downright reluctance and his firm rules for staying at the Cullens, he had seemed accepting enough.

Until the whole carnival and masquerade ball drama.

His behavior at the police station, after Carlisle had dropped me off, had strengthened my belief that Charlie was just worried because he'd put himself in Mr. Weber – Angela's father - place.

"Bella, I have been so worried," Charlie had choked as he held me after Carlisle had dropped me off at the police station.

I would have stuck to my "choking fatherly worry" theory, had I not observed the small exchange Charlie and Carlisle had without words.

A gentleman's agreement of some sort.

Seeing that, the realization had kicked in that it really wasn't a temporary thing and Charlie was dead serious.

He was overbearing and unreasonable. And all my understanding for him had instantly evaporated.

Then there was Carlisle; he could have defended Edward, instead of going against him and picked Charlie's side.

But Carlisle hadn't done that. Quite the opposite actually. He had supported Charlie's decision and so the two fathers were against us…

That didn't leave us with much. How very Romeo and Juliet. Being kept apart by our families. All that was missing was a good old family vendetta.

Oh, wait…the Cullens versus the Blacks.

Yes, that kind of theatrical drama was covered too.

I knew things were not as black and white as they were pounding in my head, but I felt betrayed by my father and Carlisle. I couldn't imagine Edward would feel any different.

Of course, I had no proof of that, because I couldn't ask him.

***

Charlie had lingered at the police station for a few hours, collecting all the information he needed until he announced to his deputy Mark that he would going to drop me off at the house and be back later.

I'd never been more bored and happy to go home, even if it mean

As soon as we reached the house, Charlie had opened the door and carried my small overnight bag in, dropping it to the floor.

Then he had turned to pull me into a fatherly hug.

It had been awkward. More awkward than me and Charlie had ever been before. We weren't the hugging type and since I had been pissed with him for the overprotective dad crap he had pulled on me and Edward, feeling his embrace had made me feel weird.

"I am fine," I had muttered as I pulled away.

Charlie had frowned as he had taken in my expression.

"Bella, don't start with me," he had warned. "I am doing this for you."

His assumption, of course had only pissed me off further.

"How convenient," I had grumbled, before I ran up the stairs like a decent rebelling teenager would.

Dramatic as I had felt, I'd thrown myself on my bed. The tears of frustration had flown easily after that.

I was still staring at the ceiling a few hours later, trying to understand the reasons, though Charlie's dad logic, if there was any, failed to reach me.

He loved me that I was certain of. That was pretty much the only reason I found legitimate.

But Edward loved me too. Keeping him away from me was like I was suffocating.

I knew that argument would definitely fall on deaf ears with my father. In fact, I was pretty convinced he would simply laugh and call me dramatic if I actually told him.

I attempted to do some home work, or rather to work ahead a bit, since we had a week of midterms coming soon and I figured I'd give myself more room for studying that way.

It was a bust. The words on the pages were dancing, my pencil broke and I refused to go downstairs to look for a pencil sharpener. Every word I read was associable with Edward in some way and it wasn't before long that I was certain everything in the universe was now conspiring against me.

When I finally gave up, it was about 5.00 PM and I wasn't certain if Charlie expected me to go downstairs and start on dinner.

I wasn't planning on it and I refused to give him the comfort of a home cooked meal after living out of cans for days during his fishing trip.

I wasn't hungry anyway.

I put my books away and laid my head down on the pillow, staring outside, wondering what Edward was doing.

I had to admit, I was kind of miffed. Miffed because I had sort of expected him to follow after me and come and rescue me from my father.

I was the princess in the tower. Rapunzel, or whatever.

It was quite the pathetic thought. Edward knew better than to cause a scene. But it didn't take away the feeling I had been ditched.

Silly insecure Bella.

As I lounged on my bed, the feeling of discomfort and nerves coming and going, I decided it might be better to focus on something positive.

Like thinking of making love to Edward. Yes, we were plain and simply having damn good sex, but he was old fashioned and I liked calling it "love making" so that's what it was to both of us.

I wasn't a self proclaimed sex goddess nor did I have a whole lot of experience after a whopping two days of sexcapades but I knew it was quite special and quite fantastic to make love to Edward.

His hands should be freezing, but when he touched me, it felt like I was on fire. Soft as a feather, like a caress of silk. No one would ever be able to guess he could break steel with his bare hands.

I sighed. I loved him so much. It was a bit unbelievable and perhaps even a bit naïve to love someone this much, after all, putting aside the vampire aspect one could claim I didn't know Edward that well. He was always honest with me, I knew his family history and yet...I didn't know him inside and out.

The one thing I knew beyond all other things though, was that I knew his soul. I knew his soul by heart and his heart well; it was the purest, warmest, most giving heart…

His heart.

Two times now I had heard it beat. Of course, I knew it wasn't possible. Edward was immortal, his heart didn't beat. It must've been an echo, a fantasy. Wishful thinking.

I vaguely recalled a sense of knowing, an epiphany of some kind. I had known this…dreamed about this.

I wasn't certain how Edward felt about it. I didn't know if he was willing to elaborate on how it made him feel.

Another one of those communication barriers we seemed to have.

It was strange for I knew that we'd be able to talk about anything. I had always talked to Jacob a lot. Granted, we had never had a good romantic foundation, but with Edward it seemed we were far too consumed with the romance, the inevitability of our feelings and the affections.

I realized that, had we communicated properly, had we spoken of our feelings the way we had agreed we would, I would have been far less insecure about everything that was going on now and far less irritated about it too.

It was two hours later when Charlie called me down for dinner. Apparently he had managed to scramble something together.

I left my room with reluctance and stomped down the stairs in defiance.

Charlie eyed me with caution, as I sat down at the table.

Pizza.

I shoved my plate away and sighed deeply, as if to better illustrate my point.

"I am not hungry."

Charlie was clearly not impressed.

"Bella, I may not be the world's best father and I know I make mistakes, but you can't honestly blame me for the decision I made," Charlie spoke carefully, ignoring the fact I wasn't eating out of rebellion.

I kept silent. He could chat all he wanted, pretend his decisions made sense. I didn't care and I wasn't about to be forgiving.

Charlie wasn't having that. He dropped his fork to his plate, the sound making me jump a little.

So much for keeping cool, Swan.

"He's a person of interest, Bells. I am not saying he did anything wrong, but right now, he is one of the last people whose seen Angela alive. And since Clallam messed up by bringing him in out of their jurisdiction, I need to talk to him again. His earlier testimony is not valid in my investigation."

As if I cared for that explanation. Charlie's assumptions were so far off regardless of technicalities.

Yes, Edward was a person of interest. He was marked as a witness, not a suspect, which meant Charlie would call him to the station whenever he felt like it to give a testimony. But that did not make him a criminal.

Also, a little fun fact everyone seemed to forget about; Edward had not been the last to see Angela. And while I didn't blame Ben, he had been the last to see her. I didn't understand why the authorities weren't talking to him instead focusing all their attention on Edward.

"Edward has got nothing to do with this," I seethed.

"Until I have spoken to him myself, have eliminated him from my list, you won't be the judge of that," Charlie warned me.

My blood was boiling. I wasn't violent, but Charlie at this point was pissing me off to the extent of me wanting to jump over the table and bitchslap him.

If he played dirty, so could I. Maybe I could call my mother…Renee was good at irritating Charlie.

"Why not? You want to convict him, simply because he is my boyfriend! It's not like you play fair. And you know the sheriff and principal Daggett treated him wrong!"

"I am a cop, Bella. My instincts work this way. I need to be sure," he muttered

Charlie WAS insane, no doubt about it.

"Your instincts, or whatever you call that failing intuition of yours, are far off. Edward has nothing to do with Angela's disappearance."

"That may be the case, but until I am convinced of this, you're not allowed to see him. It would damage my reputation if my daughter was involved with someone I am investigating."

I was stunned.

"So this is about your reputation?"

"My happiness is less important….inferior to YOUR reputation," I spat.

I wanted to scream, be dramatic and kick something. Especially after I saw Charlie observing me coolly. Calm. He was not about to get sucked into some sort of drama.

"Yes, Bella." He replied icily. "Do you know how absurd it is to have the Clallam County sheriff do your dirty work? To have to talk to your daughter's boyfriend?"

Oh, was that the way he wanted to play this.

"No dad!!" I shouted. "I have no idea. No idea how it feels to have my father keep me from my boyfriend. How humiliating it is to be caged like a little girl, unable to make her own decisions…"

"You are insane. You're doing this because you don't like Edward. You can't control me this way, if that's what you think…"

"You think I am trying to control you? Bella, I gave you a certain kind of responsibility by leaving you alone this weekend. But look at what could have happened. Angela Weber wasn't alone; yet she managed to get taken"

"You are seventeen," Charlie pointed out. "You do not get to make these kinds of decisions. I am your primary care taker at the moment and legally responsible."

"Hmpf, care taker." I huffed.

"Bella, I know you insist on being unreasonable about this. I know you have some conspiracy in your head that I am doing this because I dislike Edward. I am actually just doing my job. Eliminating suspects."

I rolled my eyes. "Do you honestly think Edward is a criminal? That he is responsible for Angela's disappearance?"

Charlie's silence was awkward and hurt a little. I wanted nothing more but to understand my dad and his unjustified parental worries, but the silence that crept around us, said it all.

Charlie was not convinced that Edward was innocent.

Not convinced at all. And for me his silence spoke loud.

"I see…" I muttered.

"Bella, I am a cop. If I rule Edward out right now, I would be making a spectacle of myself as someone in high ranked law enforcement. I can't do that. Especially not because he is your boyfriend."

"You can do the opposite because he is my boyfriend, it seems."

"Bella, you have got this all wrong. All I care about is finding Angela. And the person or people responsible." Charlie sighed.

"Why aren't you looking for Angela? That doesn't seem to be a priority compared to all this focus on Edward," I pointed out.

"That doesn't exactly bode well for your reputation either," I said icily. "Not looking for the missing girl…"

"Mark and two others are combing the area around the gym. Clallam is giving me two teams with search dogs in the morning. I called Billy to ask him if he wanted to supervise the area around the reservation. Jake and the boys are gonna do a search there," he told me.

"Unsupervised and illegal." I muttered.

"Helpful mostly, Bells. I am heading back to the gym after dinner. We're looking to plan some search parties. The principal is helping with some logistics. We want to turn every stone to make sure we didn't miss anything."

That surprised me. "Daggett is helping? Will everyone at school help too?"

"Principal Daggett is offering for the students to help with the search parties but we need to work on the details," Charlie explained.

"He doesn't want kids to go searching without decent instructions. He wants to give us the space to do our job first and then create volume in man power so we can cover a bigger area."

A search party initiated by the principal. He seemed to want to be part of all this. Way more than a principal had to be…

Charlie seemed to have guessed my apprehension, though he couldn't possibly guess the context behind it. "We hope these search parties will help us find her, Bells..."

"And if we don't…"

"Let's stay positive," was all he offered.

After dinner, Charlie took off, but not before he made absolutely certain I would not take off to the Cullens, or be in touch with Edward in any way.

"I agreed with Carlisle and Esme Cullen that they'd make sure Edward wouldn't come and visit you. You can call, but they promised me to tell you, you couldn't speak to him."

I didn't get a chance to respond. I just stood there in the kitchen. I watched him go, as I glanced outside the window.

It took me less than a minute to reach for the phone and dial Alice's number.

She wouldn't refuse to talk to me. I was her best friend.

I dialed her number.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

She never answered.

Thank you very much, Charlie. You just entirely ruined my social life. My best friend can't talk to me, the other one is missing. My boyfriend is being kept away from me. Dad of the Year indefinite.

Debating if I should be bold and head over to the Cullens took about two minutes until I realized it probably wouldn't do me much good. I'd seen the way Carlisle had reacted earlier.

He was on Charlie's side.

I ended up taking a shower and going to bed early, hoping against all hope Edward would climb through my window at any given time. As time passed and sleep dared not find me and give me some relief from the agony of Edward's absence and the anger in regards to my father's insane behavior.

I could do nothing but stare at that drat ceiling again. As the white specks blurred my vision into one big block of white plaster, I felt myself seeing red. I was angry. And as my alarm clock switched from an hour to two, three, four hours and so on and Edward stayed away from my window, I felt myself becoming agitated with the idea he would simply obey both our fathers and stay away.

You're a vampire; you have no rules to go by.

I felt abandoned. I knew I was being sulky and very immature, but it felt unnatural that he would see no need to come and see me. I tried to kill the anger by convincing myself he was just laying low; trying to be respectful towards my father and his, despite the fact they both did not deserve it.

I waited until my eyes were drooping and I couldn't keep them open any longer.

Of course, Edward never showed.

I had a restless night, tossing and turning a lot. It wasn't until right before dawn I drifted into a deeper, almost soothing sleep. I dreamed of Edward holding me, whispering in my ear that he loved me and that he was sorry.

Over and over.

I woke up a few hours later; exhausted but somewhat excited about the prospect of finally seeing Edward.

After all Charlie couldn't keep us away from each other at school. All anger and disappointment I had felt the night before dissolved. I dressed quickly; skinny black jeans and a cream white v-neck sweater, showing a hint of cleavage but not as much as Jessica or that drat Sapphire. I put on a black pair of boots, low heeled because I wasn't about to break my neck. I left my hair loose and sprinted down the stairs, where I found an empty kitchen.

Charlie was gone. I didn't have time to rummage through the drawers to see if maybe he had put my phone somewhere, so instead I decided to get to school early.

I glanced outside the window, in hopes to spot the Volvo there, like it had been every morning for weeks now. I figured maybe Edward would wait until Charlie was gone and come pick me up or drive with me to school.

No Volvo.

No Edward.

I dragged myself to the truck and got in. The sooner I got to school, the better. Maybe Edward was playing it safe and waited for me there.

But by the time when I pulled up at the school parking lot, it barely stung me that I spotted Emmett's jeep.

No Volvo.

No Edward.

What the hell was going on? Last night I had tried to convince myself that maybe he had decided to lay low for a bit, so that my dad could cool down. But then, I had slept in my bed alone. I had waited and he had never climbed through my window.

I pushed my expectations to today, to this morning. Hoping he'd come and pick me up for school.

Edward had surely not met those expectations either.

Maybe he is running late.

I rolled my eyes at my naivety.

"Grow up, Bella. He stood you up," I muttered to myself. "No need to defend him."

It hurt to realize Edward and I weren't as in sync as I had hoped we would be. Maybe he simply didn't care about all the drama surrounding my father and decided to leave me alone.

Get a grip, Bella. Rejection and insecurity make you look weak, I silently scolded myself.

I had no reason to doubt Edward's love. He had to have his reasons for being absent.

I sat there for a few minutes until there was a loud tap on the window; making my heart crash in my chest.

Alice.

I hope you know CPR.

She yanked the door open before I could steady my heart and catch my breath.

I expected her to drag me out, but she didn't. Instead she just held the door open for me to get out.

"Who died?" I muttered, as I shut the door behind me. The metal shrieking and scraping did bad things to my ears, like nails to a chalk board.

"Good morning, Bella." Alice said quietly.

Great, she was in a dreary mood too.

"What's the matter, Alice?" I demanded. "Let me guess; Charlie doesn't want to you to talk to me. Like your brother. Who I thank for his lack in caring, by the way." I said sarcastically

"Bella…"

"Never mind," I spat and I brushed past her.

Alice caught up with me easily.

Damn vampires and their super speed.

"Bella, wait…"

I rolled my eyes and kept moving. "I have to get to class."

Alice snorted. "Class doesn't start for another fifteen minutes."

"Whatever," I muttered as I tried to ignore her.

"Don't you want to know where Edward is?" she coaxed, knowing I would bite, because yes, I obviously very much wanted to know where Edward was.

I bit back the urge to spin around and face her with eager, knowing I had to play it cool now.

"If he was here, you wouldn't be asking me, now would you?" I pointed out as we reached my locker.

I ignored Alice as much as I could and turned to get a book out I needed for my first period class.

"He's with Carlisle. They are looking into some things," Alice told me.

What things?

Damn you for betraying me, stupid over thinking mind. Don't ask that aloud.

"Well good for them," I muttered.

Play it cool, Swan.

"Bella he feels terrible about this. About the fact Charlie doesn't trust him. About being separated from you. That's why he is not here today. He wants to get this whole mess cleared up soon so Charlie can't protest when he comes to see you," Alice explained.

I pretended to rummage through my locker as I kept my eyes averted from Alice's.

"Charlie is probably going to want to talk to him. Question him as a witness at the station," I said quietly.

"Of course. Charlie is just doing his job. He may have personal motivations, but he is not a malicious person, Bella. He is your dad, he just wants you to be safe," Alice said.

"And Carlisle?" I wondered. "What does he want?"

Alice grabbed my shoulders and turned me so that I was facing her. I was surprised the little pixie had so much strength. Stupid vampire power.

"Carlisle is dealing with a lot. He only agreed with Charlie because the last thing he needs is Charlie dragging this on too long. As soon as Charlie has cleared things up with Edward, he will no longer be a person of interest and that would be one less worry."

Right, more worries. Charlie, Angela's disappearance and Edward's wrongly assumed involvement. The wolves at La Push; the treaty. The Daggetts.

"When will I see Edward?" I demanded coolly.

"I don't know. He and Carlisle will be out all day," Alice told me.

"Nice of him to prioritize. The same goes for you by the way. Thanks for not answering my calls," I muttered and I closed my locker with a bang, causing Alice to jump a little, which was unusual.

"Bella…"

"I have to get to class," I said quietly before I stalked off.

Alice didn't follow me.

Everything before lunch was a blur. I found myself staring out of the window most of the time, unable to concentrate on what was going on around me.

Edward and Carlisle were 'looking into some things,' according to Alice. I had no idea what that meant. Were they looking for Angela? Were they looking into principal Daggett? Was Edward looking for a way to convince my father that he was innocent?

So many questions and no one who dared to give me some proper answers.

I had to refrain from sighing loudly and drawing attention to myself. This was rapidly becoming an exhausting turn of events.

During lunch there was a small assembly, where principal Daggett spoke of Angela's disappearance and the upcoming search-party planned for the next day. School would be out. We'd be paired in groups of four and comb through Forks. There was a plan: a few groups would go door to door to ask if anyone had seen something suspect and had out a flyer with Angela's photo and contact information. There was one group who would stay at school and catalogue information. We were going to look in the woods, the beach, and the area around school. Even across town limits if we had to.

After lunch I didn't feel much better. The time dragged on and I still couldn't concentrate. It seemed to go around because everyone still seemed shaken. Teachers were subdued and went easy on us.

I would have been happy about the school day ending at 4.00 PM, but I found Alice leaning against my truck.

"You want me to come over?" she asked as I opened the door and threw my bag in.

"I have homework to do," I told her as I got in the truck.

"Bella, we could study together," Alice opted with a small smile as she held the door open. I knew she wasn't being courteous. She was preventing me from closing it and simply drive away.

I frowned. "Are you sure you're allowed? I don't know if I am in the mood to study with someone who ignores my calls."

"Bella, Jasper and I were out. I didn't notice your calls until I got back. Way past your bedtime," she attempted to joke.

"Funny," I retorted. "Look, Alice, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

***

The house was empty when I arrived. No Charlie and certainly no Edward waiting for me. The phone rang as soon as I hung my coat and it was Charlie - who else - asking in to see how my day went. I suspected he was checking to make sure I was alone. I told him I was fine and hung up.

Homework was as much a drag as school had been and I had no appetite to make dinner. I ended up watching some lame romantic comedy, one which would have been perfect to make out during except I had no boyfriend to join in on that activity because our fathers kept us apart.

Charlie called again around 9.00 PM to let me know he was almost home; my cue to head upstairs, because I was too pissed to remain polite.

I went to bed in much the same mood and fashion as the night before. Avoiding Charlie and no Edward had climbed in through my window. I tried telling myself that Carlisle and he were looking into important things and that he'd contact me soon. Just like Alice had told me.

So why was that so hard to believe? As sleep tried to win the battle over my conscious, I worried I'd never feel him close to me again.

It may have been minutes, or hours later but somehow I was vaguely aware that I was being watched.

"Edward," I whispered in the dark, my voice barely audible and stifled by a yawn.

There was no answer, only movement.

I could make out a darkened shape in a small stream of light illuminating from the moon shininh through the window; it was moving closer to me. The figure was tall and moved flued and honestly, I was too tired to make sense of it all, so I just assumed it was him.

It had to be Edward.

Who else would be in my room?

"Edward…"

Still no response.

Maybe it wasn't Edward after all...

I convinced myself I had to be dreaming. There was no other explanation. If Edward was here, he would give a response. He wouldn't be skulking in the shadows like this. He would have been in my bed by now, his arms tightly around me, hislips pressed to the hollow under my hair. Sniffing my hair, listening to my heartbeat. Humming to me.

If only this has been a dream.

I rubbed my eyes and realized I wasn't asleep at all.

This had happened to me before.

When I was in the hospital.

I really hated déjà vu…

I searched for the light switch while whoever was in my room, crept closer. I debated on screaming but wasn't certain if I should.

As artificial light filled my room, I came face to face with my visitor…

"Hi Bella, we need to talk."

First things first.

I'd love for a BETA. Someone whose grammar is far better than mine… I would be very grateful and intend to give full credit ;) I update every 2 weeks on Eternally, so… I'd like a BETA who has a little bit of time to do this. Send me a message if you're interested :)

Then, there was some rumble with "Carlisle would never do this, he would never go against Edward". Carlisle is not entirely the same Carlisle as in Twilight. You may not like my version, but I always found him to be a bit spineless in SM's version. Of course he doesn't have to support Charlie's decision to keep Bella away, but he can't contest it either. There are reasons for this. Edward's POV next will explain.

As for this chapter, the cliffy…well…you'll find out in the next chapter. More on Angela's disappearance too…same with the search parties. And Bella's visitor.

R and R is always welcome. Thanks for all the support :)

You can follow me on Twitter for updates and rambles: twitter(dot)com(slash)bronzehyperion

Rambles mostly as some of you know. ;)