A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.

Chapter 17- The long-awaited reunion

Charlie POV-

I had had only one goal- one purpose to achieve in life a few months back- to find my daughter and bring her back to me.

And, today, in this undead life of mine, I had carried forward the same goal that was to be completed by hook or crook. I would find my daughter, Bella, and make sure that she was safe, even if I couldn't personally be in her life any longer. The fact that she would be safe would be enough for me to carry on living, or well, un-living. But, you get the point.

Sure, joining the world of the undead had never been a part of the plan, but then again when does life care about what immature plans you as a human create. I had certainly not imagined or even dreamt in the craziest dream that I had ever had the displeasure of witnessing, that I would be here, in this unimaginable form someday, but then again, like I said fate just doesn't care, and plans are never really meant to work out just like you wish for them to. That is the fun element life provides us with. (Cue the sarcasm!)

Unwillingly my thoughts faltered towards the naïve eighteen year old that I had been- all those several decades back. I had had a plan- like almost every enthusiastic to begin their life eighteen year old has, had and will have before and after me. I was going to go to college- somewhere out of Washington State preferably, and was going to marry my high school sweetheart and have a brood of children with her. We had mutually settled on four, two of each kind possibly. But then, life had occurred. My mother had been diagnosed with Cancer- the kind that came with the unfortunate end date of her pain, misery and time, and all my plans of leaving my family and state had been thrown out of the window. I was not leaving my mother and going, not when seeing me was the only thing that kept her almost happy and living. My ex- girlfriend, though, had had no reason to stay back and she had moved on, telling me that a long distance relationship was not really what she wanted at the beginning of her new life- no old ties to stop her from moving ahead, was what she had claimed. And so, the plan had changed.

I had stayed in Forks, close to my parents- looking after my father after my mother passed away, and had started training to join the police force. That was my life for the next three or so years- home, work and occasionally dinner with Billy- Sarah and Harry- Sue, though I kind of stayed away from them, too. Nothing is more depressing to a bachelor than to be around all those happy, madly in love couples. It is sickening.

Then, Renee had entered my life, the free- spirited Renee who could not be calmed down by anybody or anything. She was everything spontaneous to my monotony, and the plan had once again changed to involve her and make her mine.

After a whirlwind romance, followed by a hardly knowing one another marriage, Bella had been conceived, and for once I felt that I had finally walked on the path chosen for my life. I was going to be a father, and I could not have been any happier.

Then, suddenly, things had worsened between Renee and me, and after a long, stressful pregnancy and even longer and painful delivery- Isabella Marie Swan, the most beautiful baby to ever be born- was placed in my arms, her eyes shut and her mouth slightly open in the cutest way possible.

My joy had known no bounds and that was and will be the happiest day of my life, no matter how long I go on to survive. Then, once again, almost like it was my bad luck talking, things had changed and overnight Renee had packed her bags, written me a half hearted apology and had left with my crying six month old daughter in her arms.

That had been the end of my making plans. Why make plans when they were doomed to fail? I had decided to live life by the day, not bothering to think and plan of what would happen tomorrow or fifty years from the day. The only time I had something to look forward to, was when Bella, as she preferred to be called, would come over to visit me and spend a few weeks with me, weeks that went painfully fast for my liking.

That had been my life- no plans made and hence no regrets when things did not work out like I had hoped for them to. Bella coming back to Forks at the age of seventeen had been one of the surprises that I had never thought would occur. I had never even imagined that I would get to spend time with my daughter again, but somehow- someone up there- had thought that I deserved it.

Alas! What a cruel joke that had turned out to be! She had not even lived in my house, with me, for an entire twenty four hours when she had been kidnapped- taken away- disappeared in thin air- pulled away from me.

That was when I had decided to fuck life and destiny. I was not letting my daughter go away from me, once again, this easily. I would fight fate or whoever had taken this decision and would bring back my daughter. I needed her to be safe. I needed to know that she was happy and safe.

And so, that one change in plan for me had led me here- to this point. I was not exactly sure where I was going ahead from here, but a start was something, wasn't it?

"Sweetheart," Tanya, my mate's, voice and light grip on my arm, pulled me out of my thoughts. "Are you okay?" she softly asked. "We will find her. I promise you that."

I smiled back, pulling her slightly closer to me and kissing her on the forehead lightly.

Tanya Denali, she was that one unexpected surprise that had somehow entered my life, changing it completely. I had never thought that I would meet someone again. Love and I stayed at opposite ends of the world for that matter, but one sudden second had changed everything. Her venom spread through my pores, bringing me into this- never had I expected- world of the supernatural, making me believe that even I could move on if I wanted to.

Renee had been my life at one point of time, but she was not the end of my life. She had moved on, and so could I, if only I would have opened my heart and mind enough to understand this simple thought- something that I had now been forced to understand.

Tanya was determined, if nothing else and she claimed to have fallen in love with me on first sight, deciding then and there that I would be hers, a fact that we had come very close to achieving and making true.

I chuckled as I thought back to my own change. It had been nothing like the other human into vampire changes, was what my new family had told me after I had woken up. I had not screamed or shouted, not even muttered a word out loud in pain, all the torturous burn felt through my body never leaving my mouth. I had stayed as still as a statue throughout the entire three days, leaving an extremely worried Tanya who believed that she had done something wrong and had killed me accidently.

Even after I had woken up, I had sat still on the bed, staring at Tanya and Eleazar who had been in the room at that moment, and had sternly mumbled an 'Explain'. I knew without a doubt that something had changed, and that the angel/ devil (I wasn't sure what she was at that moment) with the strawberry blond hair- Tanya, that I now knew her as- was somehow responsible for it. I had demanded answers, not caring of the burn in my throat. I wanted to know how I could hear and see everything this clearly now, that I had definitely not been able to close to three days back. Something had changed in me, and I wanted to know it then and there.

Tanya, completely taken aback by the fact that I had behaved and acted completely unlike the other newborns (Gah! I hated that term. I was in my forties, not a baby just born) had immediately mumbled out everything there was for me to know- the rules of this new life of mine, the mating pull between us, the immortality that I was now an owner of….. anything and everything in between.

In return I had told her about Bella, well, after I had grunted and scowled a fair amount of times, and how I was not giving up till I found out where she was. She had then taken my hand in hers and had promised me that we would find her.

She had a theory about what could have happened to Bella, after I had told her about how I suspected the Cullens to be responsible, she had stated that probably Bella had been accidently changed by Edward- as she remembered him telling her that he had slipped and killed his singer, putting two and two together- and so she was now somewhere out there- living like a clueless newborn, a scenario that was indeed scary to even imagine, but I wasn't exactly sure of how correct this theory of hers could be, or how much I believed or wanted it to be true. I had a feeling that the latter of that statement was the truest of them all.

Either way, asking her friends for help was the first step of our plan to find Bella- human or vampire, at this point of time did not matter. Tanya had assured me that the people she was taking me to meet would be able to help us in finding Bella. Eleazar, Carmen and Irina were already looking for her in the North. They had wanted to involve the Cullens in this massive search of ours, but I had refused without even giving it a second thought. They were responsible for creating this mess in the first place, and I was certainly not going to ask them to help me out now. I would definitely have words for them when I next saw them again. Till then I did not want them to know of any of this. They could very well be in the dark for a bit, at least till I found my daughter again.

"Charlie," Tanya rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand. "Do you need to hunt? It has been a few hours since you last hunted."

I shrugged, checking the burn in my throat. It was manageable. I could definitely go on a few more hours without giving in to my desires.

She giggled, shaking her head, as I gave her a questioning look in return.

"You are unlike any other newborn, you know." She finally stated. "Normally newborns are these bloodthirsty creatures who don't remember anything of their past. The only thing on their mind, for a short while at least, is satisfying their thirst."

I shrugged. "I feel fine. My thirst is manageable. I am definitely not going to go crazy if I don't feed in the next ten minutes."

I had just fed on three deer less than four hours ago. How huge did she expect my appetite to be?

She giggled once again, surprising me with her reaction.

"When I was waiting for you to wake up, I had expected a newborn that I would have to physically hold back from feeding on humans, not a newborn who gets completely satiated on animal blood. Heck, Charlie, it took me decades to reach to this point. I was always hungry for the first few years of my feeding on animal blood. You are special, you know that." she said, adoration clear in her eyes.

I shrugged at her. I didn't know why, but feeding on animals was satisfying for me. I had no urge to feed on humans, and though I didn't exactly know how my morality would have responded in that situation if I were to face it, I was glad that I was not stuck in the right and wrong scenario. My mate fed on animals, and I was happy to stick by that. Like I said I had no desire to even try and check of how humans tasted. Animal blood was enough to fill me up, and even the taste was not as pathetic (to me) as the others had made it to be.

"Tanya," I started, hesitantly. "I want to find Bella as soon as possible. After you told me of the Volturi, and how brutal they can be, I dread that, because she would know no better, Bella would come in their eye. Being left alone in this world, not knowing what you are, it is unimaginable." I sighed audibly.

I wanted to strangle and then separately burn each part of Edward Cullen for doing this to her. How could he doom her to this life like this?

Poor Bella!

The chances, despite what I wished to believe, were that she had been changed. Why else would no human force be able to find her?

I had tried to use every human pull that I could have thought of, but still there had been no results. It was as if she had just disappeared from the world of mortals, something that now could be true.

Now that I was aware of the supernatural world, it was one of the things that just made sense.

I sighed to myself. I was unlike the other newborns and I still had Tanya and the other Denali's to guide me and help me out, but what about Bella? What if she had been the typical newborn- scared, having hardly any memory of herself, not knowing who she is or what she is…

No, I had to find her… before she got herself in serious trouble.

I would leave her alone, if that was what she chose, just I needed to make sure that she knew the rules and knew how to survive in this new world we had both, probably- in her case, abruptly been pulled into.

"Don't worry." Tanya whispered to me, giving me the reassurance I heavily needed. "My sister and her mate will definitely help us out. Garrett, her mate, knows a lot of nomads around the country, and even overseas. If we want to find a nomadic Bella, the other nomads are our best chance for that. Also, after you refused to let Alice get involved in this, Peter was the only person who I could think of who could help us. His gift of just knowing stuff will work in our favor, and I am almost sure that he will help."

I nodded my head in agreement. Vampires and gifts, that was certainly a mystery of me, even after I had found out that I myself had a gift- a kind of powerful one at that, if I could boast about it.

We once again took to running in the direction of the Whitlock house. I had never been this further south before, my travel history restricted to the state of Washington and partly to California and Phoenix, Arizona, of course not counting my recent travel to Alaska.

I took in the sights of the nature around us as Tanya guided me the last few miles to our destination, the scents of these other vampires becoming stronger with each step that we took ahead.

I grunted to myself in discomfort. I knew it was irrational and we were not under any threat, but still I could feel the uncomfortable feeling rise in me. There were six of these unknown scents, against the two of us- unity in numbers and all of that.

Tanya took my hand in hers, almost as if she could tell what I was going through, before speaking.

"They are not a threat. I recognize most of these scents. Jasper is here, apart from Kate and Garrett. I don't recognize the last scent, but I am sure that it cannot be a threat. Peter and Garrett would never let a probable threat around their mates."

I nodded to her, squeezing on her hand a little tighter. She had come to become a missing part of my life, one that I had never even known I had been craving for.

Finally, after all these days of mindless running, our destination came in plain sight. It was a simple structure, nothing extraordinary- reminding me a bit of my house back in Forks from its outward appearance.

I sighed internally. I didn't even know what had happened to all my belongings still stuck in there, in the house that I had lived in for the majority of my life. My 'death' had still not been publicly announced to the residents of Forks, though. In their eyes I will still on the impossible mission of finding my daughter.

I would worry about my life left behind later, though, as for now I was more concerned about trying to convince these vampires in finding my Bella.

We had probably just taken one step ahead in the direction of the house, when a gust of wind suddenly flew in our direction, a flying body coming at Tanya and bumping into her.

I crouched down, gritting my teeth at the new arrival, realizing a minute too late that Tanya and the new arrival were both laughing and hugging one another, almost as if they had known one another for their entire life.

'Well, obviously,' I internally chided myself. 'This would be Kate, Tanya's sister.'

She had probably scented the air to know of our arrival, or rather Tanya's arrival.

I awkwardly stood by the side as the sisters spoke to one another and shared details of their lives of the past few months, giggling like a bunch of overgrown teenagers, making me slightly roll my eyes. I could hear people talking inside the house, but couldn't put voice to names and hence was left in confusion and darkness.

Finally, after a few long minutes, Tanya looked at me, smiling briefly before introducing me to her sister.

I warmly smiled at the vampire assessing me with her eyes, knowing well that she was trying to scare me off with her look of complete judgment and outward coldness, a chuckle deep in my throat at that, and extended my hand, mumbling a 'Hello, it is nice to meet you.'

She was Tanya's sister. I did not wish for our first meeting to start on a bad note. There was no reason for hostility, from my side at least.

Before Kate could answer, though, a squeaky whisper left the indoors of the house and floated to reach my ears.

"Cha…Dad,"

I recognized the voice. There was no doubt in my head.

She was here. My daughter was here….. inside this house.

I directly barged in, not giving a damn of things like manners and being polite. I had to see my daughter, immediately at that.

I scented the air again, sighing when it hit me straight away. I could not smell any human around or anywhere close to miles away. She was no longer human. She had been changed into a vampire, just like I had.

Tanya had been correct in her assumption. Bella had become a vampire, but how had she reached here was still a mystery to be solved.

The room cleared out of people, I noticed through the periphery of my eye, and there she stood, in front of me….

She looked the same, just her skin a bit paler, hair a bit longer and eyes- in a shade of deep, dark red. Her eyes were slightly hesitant and worried, as if not sure of my reaction to this new her. I could also see shock evident in her eyes, probably at realizing that I, too, had become a part of this world.

For me, though, she was the same Bella who I had loved and cared for since she was merely a few minutes old baby, whose little lungs cried out much louder than I had thought it possible for someone that small, and I tried to convey the same through my eyes to her.

"Bells," I whispered to myself, the moment of silence breaking as Bella came running to me, wrapping her arms around me, similar to the child Bella who would come running to meet me after I had spent a long day away from her at the station.

I sighed, the relief of seeing my daughter once again seeping in. I had waited for this day since months, and now it was finally here.

"Dad," she choked on her voice. "I never thought I will see you again."

"But I knew that I would see you again. I was sure of that." I reassured her in all of my confidence as she finally let go of me and stood opposite facing me.

"Is this for real? I don't think I am hallucinating, am I…" she took a deep breath in. "Did you come here looking for me? How did you know…..and who changed you?" she spoke out in one breath, impatient to get an answer to all of her questions.

I chuckled at her impatience, knowing that we did indeed have a lot of questions to be answered between us at the moment.

"Yes, I am real. No, you are not hallucinating. Yes, I came here in my search to find you. No, I did not know that you were here, and Tanya changed me." I answered, with a nod of the head, priding myself for keeping my calmness.

A confused look suddenly took over her face. "Why would Kate's sister change you? And they live in Denali, and almost never leave Alaska. How did this happen then?"

I shook my head, amusement clear in my eyes. Of course she would realize that. "Long story, will get to that later. Just know for now that Tanya is my mate."

Her eyes widened in surprise as she gulped and nodded her head once.

The said person in question though, soon walked inside the house, the others following her, the one with blonde hair and golden eyes going and immediately standing by Bella, his worried eyes never leaving her as he whispered something in her ear, too low for any of us to hear, and she nodded her head in return.

I grunted to myself, noticing for the first time that he looked kind of familiar.

I had definitely seen him before, where but?

I narrowed my eyes in question, trying to get my brain to join the dots, and was honestly shocked by the answer that came to me.

He was one of the Cullen kids. I had seen him around Forks. He was one of the Doctor's sons. Which one, though? He was not that Edward fellow, I was almost sure of that. The other two Emmett and…. Jasper, I had not seen much of them to recognize at sight.

"You," I growled out at him. What was he doing here…. near my daughter? "You are a Cullen, right? What are you doing here?"

He looked taken aback by my question, but straightened himself as he answered. "Yes sir. I was a part of their coven. Peter is like a brother to me, and hence I came to meet him."

I nodded my head at him. "What is your name, boy?"

"Jasper Whitlock," he said with a nod, his surname and the mentioning of past tense in the previous sentence enough an indicator for me to know that he was no longer a part of the Cullen coven.

I grunted in reply, noticing once again that his eyes kept looking again and again at my daughter, who herself kept meeting his eyes frequently. It was almost like they were having a silent conversation that nobody else was privy to. Their postures too and the way their bodies unknowingly leaned closer to the other…. seemed familiar…..

"What is your relation with my daughter?" I growled out. Why beat around the bush?

I smiled to myself when he stiffened, knowing that he had no other choice but to answer, and answer truthfully at that. My gift- my ability would make sure of that.

My gift was basically the power of making a person confess. When asked a question, the answer would leave their mouth immediately, even if they didn't want to answer, like a compulsion. It was close to impossible for them to not answer when asked something by me, and I could tell if they were lying. That fact would just pop into my head, telling me if they were saying the truth or were lying. It was a valuable power, no doubt in that.

The boy, Jasper, gulped to himself. "She is my mate, sir."

I huffed to myself, not liking this even one bit.

Who did this punk think himself to be? How old was he in the first place? I was about to ask him the same, but stopped myself. It could sound hypocritical, considering….. me and Tanya, you know.

But still, he was too old for my baby girl. She was just seventeen. He looked at least twenty, even if the vampire years were not counted.

I was glad for one fact, though. At least she had not brought home someone like that Mike Newton or that Tyler Crowley boy. They were a disgrace, and had absolutely no manners of how to respectfully talk to a man their father's age. I would have had a coronary if she would have told me that she liked someone like that.

Not saying that this one was any better.

I huffed to myself, deciding to take matters in my own hand. I just wish I had my gun here with me. I know I know it wouldn't work, but it was good for intimidating purposes.

"Dad," Bella's stern voice reached my ears. She knew well what I was thinking of doing. I rolled my eyes and dutifully ignored her presence. I was the parent here. It was my right to scare her prospective…. Boyfriend… husband… whatever he was.

"What are your intentions with my daughter?" I folded my arms as I raised my eyebrow in question.

I could hear Bella grumbling in the background, and the other two men in the room chuckling under their breaths. Tanya rolled her eyes, but let me continue in my fun.

Jasper visibly squirmed but answered, nonetheless. "Sir, I want her to be happy and safe. I want to be in her life, if she gives me the chance to. And if she does, I will make sure to love her, protect her and respect her till the day I exist."

Hmm, he was saying the truth. Not an ounce of dishonesty was radiating from him.

"Do you mean it?" I asked, knowing the answer already but still wanting to confirm it.

He nodded his head. "Yes sir. I meant every word of that."

He turned to look at Bella, their eyes meeting and their smiles widening, before their lips came to meet one another.

I coughed loudly at that, as they separated and stood facing me. He seemed like a decent boy, but I didn't need to see that.

"In that case, I don't think we will have a problem."

He smiled at me, nodding his head.

"And, call me Charlie." I said with a firm nod and grunt.

He seemed like a decent boy, and cared about my daughter. That much was obvious from the way he looked at her.

"Charlie, if you don't mind me asking," I nodded my head and he continued. "When you asked me a question, earlier, it was like a compulsion. I had to answer. I am confused by that."

I smirked at him as Tanya, once again, rolled her eyes.

"That is actually my gift, a sort of compulsion. I felt you should know what I am capable of doing." I said, raising my eyebrows slightly. I could not come in between a mated pair, the rules said that, but it was no where written that I could not intimidate him into knowing what I was capable of doing, in case he decided to hurt my daughter.

Bella growled at me, making me laugh internally.

Being a vampire was fun, wasn't it?

Jasper just nodded his head, smirking to himself, before the urge to take a dump hit me, and hit me hard.

Damn it! I was a vampire. I did not need to use the bathroom.

The urge intensified, almost getting me down to my knees. I needed to find a bathroom, urgent at that.

I could hear Tanya shouting at Jasper in the background, what for I had no idea or care at the moment.

Suddenly, well, as suddenly as the urge had come it disappeared, and I once again stood up, confused by this strange turn of events.

Bella was smiling in a teasing way at me, from where she stood beside Jasper, almost like she was trying to say 'serves you right.'

"Charlie," Jasper spoke up. "With all due respect, just like you showed me your power, I felt that you should know what I am capable of doing. You know, in case I need it to protect my mate and your daughter."

I nodded my head at him, getting the subtle hint that he was not one a person should mess with, even if that 'one' was I, and not anybody else.

Impressive…..

"In that case, son, I think you and me will get along just fine." I said with a smirk, as he nodded his head at the acceptance received.

A/N: So, originally, Jasper, Bella and the rest of them were supposed to leave to meet the Cullens by the end of this chapter, but I lost track of words and this chapter became this long without adding the few more paragraphs I was supposed to add. And so, they will be leaving for their journey in the next chapter (Bella- Charlie will also have a proper conversation). Anyway, if I stick to my original plan- this story has another five or six chapters to go.