Jacob Moves In

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to SM.

A/N-thank you for the kind reviews!

Chapter Fifty Two

Bella was left alone with Billy. Jacob had left to rally his pack and update them on the latest situation with Charlie. They were going to mount a search, but with little to go in it was going to be difficult. They couldn't track a car. The Clearwater siblings were left to guard the house while Jacob and the others were occupied.

"I was just trying to give your old man some space, Bella." Billy said for the hundredth time. His guilt was weighing heavily on his mind. He was upset that Jacob was becoming increasingly distant from him. The more he tried the more he kept screwing up. "I'm so sorry. I never expected this to happen."

"Please don't apologise anymore." Bella was getting weary of it. She didn't blame Billy directly, not like Jacob did. Charlie was a grown man and made his own decisions, just like Billy did himself. They weren't children. Although sometimes it felt like she and Jacob were micro managing their time. "Even if you were here you couldn't have stopped him if he wanted to leave."

Billy knew that Bella was trying to make him feel better, especially because of the frosty reception he kept getting from his son about the whole thing. "I don't think I can bear it if anything has happened to him. He's my best friend. I've been so caught up with Cora. She's the first woman I've dated since I lost my Sarah." He sighed heavily and looked down at his useless legs. "Not that I'm such a great catch. I don't know why Cora is even giving me the time of day."

Bella didn't have the energy to shore up Billy's fragile ego. Not when she was so worried about her dad. She tried to keep a semblance of calm for his sake, but she was desperate for a distraction. "I think I'll make something to eat."

"I'm not really hungry, Bella." Billy replied, thinking it was for him.

"No, I'm talking about for Leah and Seth." Bella was irritated that he thought it was all about him again.

"Oh, I see." Billy apologised, his cheeks reddening with embarrassment. "Yes, that's very kind of you."

"I'll get started now." Bella walked away and left Billy alone to wallow in his guilt. She had enough trouble dealing with her own.


Bella watched in silent fascination as Leah and Seth gobbled down the vegetable lasagne she had made as if it was going to be their last meal on earth. Seth, especially, was shoving in huge portions, barely bothering to swallow before shoving the next lot in his eager mouth. Leah was slightly more sedate, but like Seth she was on her third portion.

"This is so awesome." Seth said with his mouth full as he took the time to praise Bella's cooking skills. "This is the best I've ever tasted. Lee's is always so rank."

"Hey." Leah snapped as she cuffed her younger brother around the head.

Seth choked, coughing as he hit his chest. "What did you do that for?" He complained.

"Because you were being rude about my cooking." Leah retorted with a wry smile. She was only teasing.

"I bet your lasagne is just as good as mine." Bella interjected, thinking that Leah was really upset.

"There's no need to butter me up, girlfriend." Leah rolled her eyes. "Seth's right. I can't cook for toffee."

"I could teach you." Bella offered, desperate for something to say. Even after all this time she still felt slightly intimidated by the older girl, though lately they had reached an understanding.

"No thanks." Leah wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It's bad enough that Emily is trying to force me into the kitchen. She's desperate to find some common ground with me again, but standing in front of a stove is my worst nightmare."

"Oh." Bella didn't know what to say to that. She had heard on the grapevine that Emily was trying her hardest to get back the once carefree relationship she'd had with her cousin. But after the whole imprinting issue, Bella thought that Emily was being particularly naive. The she-wolf may have finally decided to move on from her pain at losing Sam, but that didn't mean they would ever be good friends again. "What do you like doing then?" Bella asked eventually as her curiosity won out.

"Not shopping." Leah pretended to shudder in horror. "So don't dare ask me."

"Bella hates shopping." Seth stopped gobbling his food for a nanosecond to join in the conversation.

"That's right. I do." Bella laughed. She ruffled the youngsters hair playfully as he resumed eating.

"Well that's one thing we have in common." Leah said in surprise. "I recently joined the women's basketball team."

"Really?" That was news to Bella. She was impressed. Leah had isolated herself from making friends outside of the pack for so long that it was good to see she was making an effort to build a life outside it. "That's good."

"You could come along if you like." Leah offered grudgingly.

"Bella hates sports." Seth interjected again. "And she's way too short."

Leah narrowed her eyes at her little brother while Bella tried to stifle her laughter. "That's right." She agreed, ruffling Seth's hair again. "But only because I suck at all sports."

"Next you'll be offering to give me a makeup tutorial." Leah quipped as she slapped at Seth's hand when he sneakily tried to remove some of her unfinished lasagne from her plate.

"Bella doesn't like wearing makeup." Seth said as he smiled at Bella with his big round puppy dog eyes, clearly begging for more scraps. Bella smiled at him and loaded the last portion of the lasagne onto his empty plate. "Thanks, Bella You are the best." He picked up his fork and began to shovel it in his mouth.

"So, apart from feeding the five thousand and my goofy brother, what do you like doing?" Leah asked.

"She likes reading. And she's working on a novel. She wants to be a published author one day." Seth's voice was muffled as he chewed his food.

"I didn't see your mouth move." Leah drawled sarcastically as she side eyed Seth again. "You seem to know an awful lot about Bella, Sethy."

Seth stopped eating and gulped. His cheeks were flaming red. He knew he had been caught out. His crush on Bella wasn't exactly a secret. He smiled nervously. "Um...I may have...um...um...read Jake's..." He shrugged. "Well he's always thinking about Bella. Always...and..."

Leah snorted with laughter as she cuffed Seth playfully again. "Keep your mouth occupied, bro. It keeps the verbal diarrhoea to a minimum."

Seth blushed vociferously. He was having trouble looking in Bella's direction. "I might go and um...yeah...I'll do that. See ya." He quickly ate the last few mouthfuls of his lasagne and dashed outside, his sister's laughter ringing in his ears.


The Clearwaters had proved a good distraction, but they were gone now, only to be replaced with Paul and Jared. Bella fed them too, but refrained from making conversation. Lahote wasn't her favourite wolf and Jared was always reserved. They had no news for her. There was still no sign of Charlie. After they had gone back outside to keep watch, Bella sat and watched an old film with Billy. The older man was still racked with guilt. He was desperate for his son to come home so they could hash things out and find some common ground. Time continued to tick slowly by. As each hour passed Bella was getting increasingly despairing. This was the longest that Charlie had ever been out of contact and she was struggling.

"If anything has happened to him..." Billy lamented, echoing her thoughts aloud.

"Please, Billy." Bella couldn't listen anymore. "Excuse me I'm going to try and call him again." She walked out of the room before he could respond. Her nerves were on a knife edge and she didn't think she could control herself any longer. Not knowing what had happened to both her parents was beginning to take its toll. She wished Jacob would come home, but she knew he wouldn't until he had something concrete to tell her. Like before Charlie's cell went straight to voice mail. So did Renee's when she tried. Bella went onto the back porch to get some privacy. She put her head in her hands and wept silently as her emotions became too much to handle.


Jacob came home around midnight. He was exhausted after having covered huge ground in his efforts to find a clue as to Charlie's whereabouts. He had no good news. There was not a scrap of evidence as to what direction the police chief had gone in. All the evidence pointed toward the fact that Charlie had left willingly and on his own. There was no suggestion that Victoria had been involved. She certainly had left no trace around the house if she had been in the area.

"But that doesn't mean he couldn't have met up with her elsewhere." Billy was close to tears. "This is my fault. You were right to b..."

"You're not helping." Jacob snapped. "Regret is a bitch but it doesn't give us a clue to where Charlie might have gone."

Bella got between them and put a calming hand on Jacob's chest. Tiredness was making them all snappy. "Come and have something to eat, then you need to get some sleep."

Jacob rubbed a hand over his face. "Okay." He mumbled before looking in his dad's direction. "I'm sorry, dad. I shouldn't have shouted."

Billy nodded, too distraught to say anything else. He was sinking into despair. Cora had called, asking to see him, but he had put her off. Even though he enjoyed her company she was proving too much of a distraction. He had taken his eye off the ball and his best friend had suffered for it. If and when they found Charlie he vowed never to neglect his friend or his responsibility to his son again, even if he had to break up with Cora to do it.


It was gone one in the morning when Bella heard the cruiser pull up outside the house. Jacob was sleeping restlessly beside her. He opened his weary eyes and rolled out of bed so he could look out of the window. He was relieved to see the police chief climbing out of the cruiser, Charlie's face was half in shadow as he walked slowly down the drive. His head was bent with exhaustion.

"It's him, Bells." Jacob smiled in relief as he reached for her hand and helped her to rise.

"Did he...is he...okay?" Bella asked. She had been imagining all sorts of wild scenarios.

"Yes... though he looks done in." Jacob led the way out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Charlie was just unlocking the front door when they reached the bottom.

"Where the hell have you been?" Bella exploded at her father as soon as he shuffled inside. "We've all been worried sick. Work has been calling non-stop. I've been out of my mind wondering where you were. It's bad enough that I don't know what happened to mom, without you..."

"STOP, BELLS!" Charlie yelled at her.

Bella's mouth clamped shut and frustrated tears welled in her eyes. Jacob glared at Charlie, not happy with the way he had spoken to his daughter. But before he could say anything, Billy appeared out of the lounge, alerted by all the noise.

"You're back." He cried in relief.

"I'm back." Charlie said grimly. He looked at the gathered group, his eyes hard. "I need some privacy. I want to speak to Bells alone. So, if you don't mind." He nodded curtly, indicating that he wanted them to leave.

"Bells?" Jacob checked. He wasn't going to go if she wanted him to stay.

"It's fine." Bella assured him with a weak smile.

"Alright. We'll be nearby if you want us." Jacob promised as he took the handles of his dad's wheelchair and pushed him outside into the cool night air.

"That was rude pushing Billy and Jake out like that." Bella remonstrated with her father. "We've all been so worried about you. Why didn't you call?"

Charlie's face was tight with strain. He swallowed thickly. "My cell died." He ran his fingers through his hair and gestured for her to go into the kitchen and sit down. "I've got something to tell you, kiddo."

Bella settled into one of the empty chairs. Charlie had pulled a cold beer out of the fridge and popped the lid off the bottle. He sat down opposite her and looked at her, the white's of his eyes were red, almost like he had been crying. Dark circles underscored his eyes. He obviously hadn't slept since he left the house. A cold dread settled in Bella's stomach. "What is it?" She whispered fearfully.

"It's about your mom." Charlie said with difficulty. He ran his fingers through his hair again, a tic on his jaw pulsing with tension as he battled for control of his emotions.

"You found her." Bella dugs her nails into the palms of her hands as she braced herself for the bad news.

"I did..." Charlie continued gruffly. He blinked rapidly as if fighting off more tears.

"Just tell me." Bella pleaded desperately. "Is she alright? Where is she?"

"She was in Seattle this whole time." Charlie clenched his jaw tight

Was...he had said was. It was past tense. Her hand flew to cover her mouth. She shook her head as if in denial. "Dad, please..."

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Charlie captured her shaking hand and clung on tightly. "I really tried but I couldn't get through to her." He took another swig of his beer to give him some courage. "She was in a bad way. Too thin. She hadn't been looking after herself properly, she had gotten in with a bad crowd..." He paused, biting his lower lip in agony. "We argued. I was just trying to get closure for the both of us. I didn't know how ill she really was..."

"Dad..." Bella couldn't breathe. She knew what was coming.

"She collapsed right there in the street as we argued. I tried to resuscitate her. My cell wasn't working. I screamed for help." His face paled at the memory. "Someone called 911. But by the time the paramedics arrived your mom was already gone. Her heart gave out." He let go of Bella's hand and squashed his fists into his eyes as he cried. "Tori came running. Without her I don't..."

"You were with Tori?" Bella exclaimed bitterly. She was fighting for breath. She scraped her chair back and stood up, her whole body shaking with anger and grief. She couldn't think straight. Black spots appeared in her line of vision and her legs began to wobble. The last thing she heard was Charlie calling her name as she fainted right in front of him.

A/N-thanks for reading!