Rated M for Mature Content. 18 and older only please!
Bella's grip on Emmett's hand was so tight that he was sure she was going to crack his fingers right off but he held firm. Peter had a long arm wrapped around her waist from her other side as her sorrowful dark eyes stared into the flames. Emmett knew he should try to reassure her but what if it hadn't worked? What if Charlie really was dead?
Feeling his conflicting emotions, Bella laid her head against the burly shoulder of her large mate. He was taking this almost as hard as she was. Cora was inconsolable as she sat off to the side on the ground with her legs crossed. No one could get near her. When Esme tried to comfort her, she'd almost lost a leg and Carlisle had cautioned her to stay away. Cora was unstable at the moment and they were lucky she was here and not running around the Peninsula like a psycho for her lost mate. The only thing that kept her around was the fact that the flames still soared high in the sky. Edward and Felix clung to each other, sobbing for the lost Charlie Swan, completely unashamed of their emotional breakdown.
It was odd to the rest of the Olympians that the flames hadn't receded by now into dwindling, glowing embers. Jasper stepped forward to place his booted foot on the flames, attempting to stomp the fire away but his arm was grabbed by Alice. When he looked at her questioningly, she only shook her head and tugged him back to her side. He felt her determination and wondered at it but he spoke no words, much like everyone else. While Bella's breath continued to hitch in silent sobs, she kept a close eye on the flames. She could see something at the bottom of the large rounded bonfire but even with her keen eyesight, she couldn't make out the shape. Emmett placed a finger under her chin and brought her eyes to his. Her breath hitched when she saw the raw emotion he was trying to stifle in his eyes, felt the sorrow and fury he was trying to bury.
Leaning up on her tiptoes, Bella pressed her lips to Emmett's cheek, letting her soft lips linger on his firm skin. Her black tee was torn on the sleeve from where Corin had grabbed her and scratched her upper arm before Jake helped her take the red eyed vampire down to his death. She had torn his hand off at the wrist in a fit of anger and bit hard before tossing the appendage into the flames while Jake threw his other hand to the heat as well. With Aro dead along with Santiago and Corin; Afton and Chelsea stood beside Charlotte and Garrett, conversing quietly. It was unclear as to what they would do now. Chelsea had no desire to stay in a democracy under the rule of another king. She was hoping Afton felt the same way and they could become nomads. Charlotte supported the idea and they were discussing possibilities and the way of a nomadic life, as Garrett and Charlotte had no permanent residence.
Ignoring the small conversations around her, Bella turned her face back to the flames. Carlisle had been murmuring evangelical prayer, reciting the words over in over in a thick British accent that Bella rarely heard from the Cullen patriarch. She had absolutely no idea what he was saying but the words flowed through to her soul, lighting something inside her that oddly gave her relief despite the fury and pain she felt at the loss of her father.
Suddenly, the unidentifiable lump in the flames started moving and each vampire jumped back, utterly startled. Carlisle's face showed reverence as Esme's eyes widened with shock. Alice smiled widely as Jasper crouched, looking ready to attack. The little fae vampire kept her tiny grip on her mate's arm to keep him from going forward. Edward gasped and Felix held him to his chest, staring into the flames with narrowed eyes. Emmett tried to stifle the smugness he felt, though it radiated from within and Bella stared horrified. Peter tightened his grip on his mate's waist as he too stared focused on the fire. The other vampires watched in awe as someone crawled from the flames, long fingers grasping at the snow covered grass for leverage.
Gasping at the same time that Cora squealed and leapt forward, Bella shook herself from her mate's holds and sped around the fire, taking one of the hands as Cora grabbed the other. Together they pulled a completely intact Charlie from the flames. Wondrously, his neck was completely healed, only a thin, practically invisible scar from where his head had been separated from his shoulders shown. Breath hitching now from the intense relief they felt, Cora and Bella pulled him to his feet. Neither willing to let him go for even a second, the female vampires wrapped their arms around the former Chief and hugged him tightly. Small fissure cracks formed and he grunted, causing the two women to stifle rough, emotional giggles as they loosened their grips. Charlie folded them each into his embrace, pressing a long kiss to the fluff of Cora's hair and let his dark gold eyes meet Emmett's. He didn't know how Emmett had managed to not only envelop his severed head but also his body but he would eternally be grateful.
Without lifting her head from the crook of his armpit, Bella spoke with muffled words. "How are you alive, Dad?" Her voice was higher pitched and cracking under the emotional strain she was suffering.
Cora squeezed a bit tighter and nodded, wondering the same thing.
Emmett chuckled thickly, overwhelmed by his own strong emotions as he watched his mate reconnect with her father. Peter grasped his hand and they walked around the fire, the rest of the Olympians following to hear the miraculous story. Charlie kept his flannel covered arms wrapped solidly around his daughter and his mate as they all revelled in the fact that he was alive.
His deep voice was gruff as he spoke. "When I felt Aro hop onto my back, I knew I was done for. Feeling his teeth in my neck was excruciating but watching myself roll into the flames was more frightening than anything I'd ever experienced." Charlie paused when matching whimpers left the lips of the women who clung to him. "The heat was unimaginable. I could feel the flames trying to lick at my skin, my hair. But it wasn't. When I felt my body pushed in, I figured that was the end but it was enveloped in the same sensation my head was. It felt like I was being wrapped in some kind of cling wrap, only thicker.
"I was able to see and hear everything around me, even over the roar of the fire. I knew when Corin was thrown in and I watched Santiago burn too. It took awhile for my arms to find my head but once I was able to get a grip, the shield literally moved to form around me. It moved with me. It was obvious that Emmett was helping me but he seemed completely oblivious, as if he hadn't meant to help me but had done it out of sheer instinct. It took a fuck of a long time for my neck to heal and I hated that I couldn't really get out of the heat to do it and reassure you girls that I was safe." Clearing his throat as it had thickened with his emotions and his words cracked at the end, Charlie gripped his daughter and mate tighter in his arms, looking down at them both with an intense love. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, my girls."
Bella felt her heart swell with love and devotion for her mate who had protected her father from the true death. She wanted to run to him and hug the bejeezus out of him but didn't dare let go of Charlie yet.
They stood embracing each other for a long while as Jasper finally was able to stomp out the fire which had dwindled significantly after Charlie emerged. There was no mess, really, since the wolves had helped clean up any of the vampire parts they'd scattered when tearing into Santiago and Corin. Esme was going to have her hands full, placing new sod down where the different creatures had torn up parts of her beautiful yard but if that was all she had to do to fix the mess after the war, then she would be grateful and do it with a wide smile on her face. Carlisle suggested they disperse to give the newly reunited vampires some time together. Esme busied herself, hovering near the Quileute wolf and still unconscious werewolf while Charlotte and Garrett took Chelsea and Afton to hunt. Alice darted into the house with Felix and Edward. Carlisle decided to head to Olympia's main hall to discuss what would happen now as they waited for Caius, Marcus and his crew to show up with the Denali's. Peter pressed a kiss to the back of Bella's head and murmured his love for her as he turned to leave with Jasper and Carlisle.
"Mind telling me what that shit's all about, Bells?" Charlie asked, ignoring the chuckles he heard from inside the house. He'd meant to ask her about Peter when she and Emmett had come back naked with him but then everything had gone to hell...Quite literally for him. Alice hadn't been very forthcoming in the three day trip the three of them had taken, telling him that it was Bella's place to tell him if and when she wanted to.
Bella felt as though she'd be blushing if she could be as she cringed away from her father. She looked up at him from under her lashes, knowing he was about to get all up in her personal business. He would not approve of her being in a triad. Backing away from him slowly, she dragged her fingers down his bicep and forearm, relishing in the feel of her father and the fact that he was indeed standing in front of her. The moment she moved, Cora pressed herself fully against her mate, purring as she nuzzled her cheek into his chest.
"Peter's our third, Dad." Bella said quietly as she felt Emmett stand behind her before he placed each hand on her hips and gripped her tightly. Turning swiftly in his arms, she embraced him tightly, pressing a long kiss to the middle of his chest and giving him her gratitude. He smiled down at her and sent her his deep abiding love. She knew that he would support her in whatever she needed. She prayed that her dad didn't freak out but with the expression on his face and the emotions he was radiating, the hope she held within her was dwindling fast.
"Your third what?" He spoke through clenched teeth.
Holding her hands up to placate him, Bella smiled softly. "He's our mate. We are a triad."
Looking much like a fish out of water, Charlie was completely gobsmacked. He hadn't been expecting that at all. He thought perhaps she had a wild side and Emmett was letting her indulge because that's how mates worked. He definitely wouldn't have condoned that sort of behavior from his daughter, even if it wasn't technically his place to give permission at all. All his hot air left him as he contemplated this new revelation. Peter, Emmett, and Bella were a sure deal, he knew. Mates could not be tampered with and were forever. What was usually known as soulmates or twin flames, would now be a triad. At least for them. His daughter watched him closely and monitored his emotions. She wondered why he felt relief but decided it didn't matter. So long as he wasn't about to freak out on her, she would take what she could get.
Blowing out a long breath, Charlie smiled at his daughter. He did not want to know the ins and outs of the sexual aspects of her new life but he figured it would be fun to watch how they all interacted together in the future. Relationships are difficult enough with only two people in it, let alone adding a third to the mix. There was sure to be some fun times ahead for the peanut gallery, that's for sure. Nodding his head firmly at his own thoughts, he slowly extracted himself from Cora to envelop Bella within his arms.
"I know you don't need it but you've got my blessing." He said into the crown of her head.
Making a small happy noise, Bella hugged her dad tightly before pushing him away playfully. "So you're not going to kick me out of the coven?" She said with a smile on her face. She hid it well but she had been very afraid that he wouldn't want to live anywhere near her after hearing the revelation.
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Charlie wrapped an arm around his mate. "Of course not." Then after a thoughtful pause, he continued. "Don't let me hear that shit though."
Emmett guffawed as Bella ducked her head shyly with an embarrassed groan. She couldn't help the flood of emotions that statement caused. Mortification knowing her father probably would hear or see something eventually and desire for wanting 'that shit' to be happening right now. After the stressful day they'd had, she needed a release badly but she stifled the need. It wasn't the time nor the place for those feelings.
Looking at his daughter with only a slight apologetic face, he said, "I need to be alone with Cora...and I definitely need to hunt." He said as he touched his tender throat with gentle fingertips. "You okay, kid?"
Already walking away with Emmett at her side, she shoved at his shoulder playfully. "So long as I don't hear that shit, I'm good." She sped into the house with her mate with Charlie's laugh echoing behind her as he and Cora raced off into the woods.
