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.

Sorry for the delay. I had a busy weekend and could not get any writing done…..

Also, thank you so much to the guest readers and to Rebadams7 (I was not being able to thank you from PM due to a glitch in the site) for your reviews. Reviews make my day, so thank you for reviewing!

Now, without further ado,

Chapter 18- A day of decisions

Bella POV-

"So, Bells," Charlie stated awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck in a gesture of sheer nervousness. I raised my eyebrow at him in question, a silent nod to continue. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

I nodded my head in understanding, already aware of something like this statement coming my way. When Charlie had asked me this morning to join him on a hunt, I had figured out that that was his indirect way of having a conversation with me, away from the rest of them who would be an unwilling eavesdropper in our conversation.

"Okay," I said, a bit worried and confused about what this could be about. We had never really had any intense father- daughter discussions before, and honestly, I didn't how willing I would be for one now.

Hopefully this would not be one of the painfully awkward kind- the type which made me want to cringe and never look into Charlie's eyes again in response.

Oh, no.

Please don't let it be a sex talk.

I had had one of those dreadful conversations with Renee when I was ten, she had misbelieved that I would be an early bloomer and hence had informed me of things that no ten year old ever should be subjected to, and needless to say, I have never been as mortified as then in life again. She had used bananas and doughnuts for Christ's sake! I couldn't even look at either of them for an entire year without cringing and almost puking out in response.

Anyway, Charlie coughed once in response, bringing me back to the one place I would rather not be at, before sighing and looking at me, determination clear on his face.

"So, good day to hunt; isn't it?" he questioned, hesitation evident in his tone.

"Uh huh," I said with a shrug, knowing well that neither of the both of us were exceptionally good conversationalists, at least not when it came to raising the topic troubling us, and so would rather prefer to beat around the bush than face an awkward conversation as such.

"I am really glad that you joined me on this hunt, kiddo."

Okay! This was odd.

"Yeah…. Same." I said with a half smile half grimace like expression, deciding not to point out the one correction in his muttered statement. We were definitely on a hunt- of his kind, but he was the only one hunting here. I had point blank refused to even try to feed on animals. I was content with my diet, and if I was not changing it for Jasper (Neither had he asked me to nor had I offered to); I was definitely not switching my diet for anybody else. I saw it as a service to society. I was getting rid of scum's of earth after all. It was at the end of the day for the good of humanity.

He sighed once. "But, I could not help but notice that your….. your eyes are deep red, not even a slight hint of golden in them. I mean….. animals are not that bad, you know. Sure, they don't taste as good, and Peter and Charlotte are human eaters and so would have not offered you the choice, but there are other ways, you know….."

"Dad," I sternly cut his ramblings off. So, this had been the obvious elephant in the room. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to jump out in joy that this was not a sex talk, or find a tree to bang my head into for this being one of 'those' morally right and wrong talks.

I had my morality in place. Thank you very much.

"Pete and Char had offered me the choice." I stated, first and foremost. I had been exceptionally lucky in finding people like them in this new life of mine. While they always guided me correctly, they let the end decision be mine, and I wasn't shy to admit that this had been my choice.

"And…. yet you chose this?" his mouth opened slightly in disbelief and confusion.

Wait, right a minute there.

I was pissed off, a scream at the very tip of my tongue. Was he judging me….Really? I had not expected this from Charlie, but then again, morality was a concept that could not be placed on a common ground. What was correct for one could be wrong for the other. I had never imagined Charlie, though, to act all mighty about something like the feeding differences between us, but then again things are not always black and white in the concept of morality, and people you think you know can also act completely opposite of what you expect them to.

Either way, I was livid and disappointed.

Disappointed in my father for probably the first time in my life….

"Are you serious?" I could not help but question. Maybe this was just a bad joke on his part, and he would start laughing any time soon, admitting that he was just kidding.

"Now, Bella." He sighed, shaking his head.

"No, Charlie." I cut him off, not in any mood to hear the rest of his bullshit. I was already done with it.

I took a deep breath in, before I did anything harsh like run away in the opposite direction and refuse to see his face ever again, or worse, take my entire anger out on him and regret it later on.

'Remember Bella. He is still your father.'

I internally kept reminding myself that he obviously cared for me, and hence had taken all these troubles in finding me.

"Dad," I stated, getting his attention back on me. I was going to be calm, mature almost adult about this, channeling the inner maturity imbibed in me due to almost raising Renee and tolerating her reckless and careless ass for all these years. Adults didn't run away from situations that were unfavorable to them. They faced them, with words. There was a reason why we were taught how to communicate and use language, instead of acting only on our impulses.

I took another deep breath in, before speaking. "You know, when I was thirteen, Renee, I mean mom," I corrected myself with a roll of the eyes, remembering that Charlie was the kind to frown whenever I referred to him and Renee with their names instead of the typical 'mom' and 'dad', a complete opposite of my dear mother, I would say. "She had a new craze of trying to adapt to the vegetarian lifestyle. One of her yoga group friends was into it, and had told her a few health benefits of it or something. She refused to touch meat, fish, or even eggs for close to seven months. But you know the best part of it, despite the change, we still lived in the same house, were mother and daughter, and no, her diet change definitely did not result in a complete personality change on her part. Well, that is kind of unfortunate, but you don't get everything in life. Now, do you?"

I had laid open my cards in front of him, done whatever I could to explain my stance, not that it had needed any explanation in the first place. Now, the ball was in his court. If he could accept this change in me, it wasn't a very major one- in my opinion; I would be willing to let him be a part of my life, as a father I always wanted but never really had, but if…. he could not accept me for who I was, then certainly things would not remain the same between us. I would not break all ties with him, that was bit too harsh to even consider, but I would also not be willing to be anything more than cordial with him.

Something like what I preferred to eat was completely my choice, as it should be. I didn't go around telling anybody what kind of diet they should follow, and all I demanded in return, was the same courtesy.

I waited for Charlie's response, a bit nervous and even slightly worried. I had already lost a lot in this change from human to vampire. I did not want to lose more. I had thought I would never see my father again, and now that he had become a vampire and so could be in my life again, I did not want to lose him once more.

Finally he sighed and nodded his head. "I get it. I am sorry. It was not my place."

"Damn right, it was not your place." I said, not bothering to mince my words.

He nodded his head once again, apologetically.

"I am just worried about you. It is just that you are so young, and I don't want you to live with a burden of regrets on your head. Taking a life…. it is not an easy burden to get rid of…" he looked at the fallen leaves on the forest ground instead of looking into my eyes.

Jasper's face entered my mind as I listened to Charlie's words. Wasn't Jasper facing the same regret and guilt, even today? The main reason why he had jumped so readily at the opportunity of switching diets was due to this intense guilt that he had to go through while feeding the traditional way but then again, neither was I an empath, feeling the emotions of the person I drained out of, nor was I committing a mass murder or being a monster. I was, in fact, extremely careful of whom I fed on. I would never kill or even think of torturing someone who was innocent. That was just not who I was.

Peter- Charlotte and even Garrett were a proof that feeding the natural way did not necessarily mean that you had given into your baser instincts, converting yourself into a monster that had no scope for redemption.

I sighed. "Dad, we are all killers, irrespective if we want to be or not. It comes in the 'glorious' package of being this always looking young, having extraordinary abilities- vampire. We have no choice, but to accept the flaws with the strengths."

"But, still." He started to protest.

"Dad," I interrupted him before he could continue and mess this up even further for himself. "Are you trying to tell me that an animal's life does not matter? Try telling that to PETA, will you?" I asked with a snort.

Just because animals could not express their selves like us and live in society like we did, did not mean that they did not deserve to live. We were nobody to decide if they deserved to keep their life or not, and more importantly, who were we to mess up the balance in nature by pushing a poor animal to the verge of extinction. I had witnessed how Jasper and Kate had to feed in order to keep themselves loyal to their vegetarian diet. They fed much more often and much more in quantity than what the rest of us had to, and that was considering that they were centuries old and not newborns. I couldn't even fathom how much damage one careless newborn could do the carefully formed equilibrium of our world.

But like I said before, I kept my opinions to myself, not forcing them onto another, and in return asked for the same slight courtesy. A person's diet was their freaking personal choice, and nobody had any right to comment on it.

He shook his head, a look of remorse crossing his face.

"Dad, I am not a monster." I said softly, mellowing down a bit at the concern that shone in his eyes. "I only feed on the human monsters that hide behind the mask of being a noble citizen of society- the rapists, the serial killers, the pedophiles, the people who commit heinous unimaginable crimes on innocent children, and even at times babies. I wouldn't say they deserve it. I am nobody to make that statement, but in my small way, I am helping society and helping those victims who have not got justice."

He nodded his head, after a few minutes of complete silence. "I am sorry. It was wrong of me to judge."

I nodded my head in agreement, knowing well that apologizing was not something Charlie did very often, but also knowing that when he said the word he did mean it.

"It is just that you are only seventeen and…." he started speaking, only to get interrupted again.

"Dad, if you have not yet seemed to grasp this," I stated a bit rudely. Was he patronizing me? "I am always going to physically look seventeen. I will not grow any older or look any different from what I look now, but mentally and emotionally I won't always be the same Bella that lived with you as a human. Circumstances will change me and make me act differently from how I behave now. That is life, be it human or vampire, or werewolf, or whatever the fuck you are."

"Bella," he sternly chided me.

"Oh please!" I waved him off. "You are worse than me at cussing."

He had no reply for that, well, as expected, so I continued on with my tirade.

"You know, dad, it is said that a vampire remains unchanging- physically, mentally, emotionally- the same. I call it bull. We all change, if not physically then in other ways. We are forced to change by fate, nature, destiny, circumstances….. whatever you want to call it. Jasper does not react the same way to situations like he would have done a hundred years before. Time changed him, like it did with the rest of them. Sure, if you don't want to change nobody can force you to, but the point here is that…" I took a deep breath in. "Please become the Charlie who did not hover for me, once again." I almost pleaded with him. "This," I pointed between the both of us. "will not work out if you try to forcefully take over my independence and question my decisions. I can assure you of that. One fine day I will get tired of it, and will refuse to keep any relations with you. In a way, turning into a vampire has taken away the last remnants of my adolescence, and I will never get it back, for however long I live. You will have to accept this, well, if you want to be in my life."

He was quiet for a long time after I finished speaking, almost as if he was accepting, hopefully, and forming his next sentence in his head.

Finally, he chuckled, shaking his head. "I am sorry. I guess I got carried away. The last few weeks, heck almost months, have been extremely stressful for me. I was so concerned about finding you that I forgot everything else in my need to protect you and make sure that you are safe. I had tried so hard to be the cool dad all my life. Now it has all gone in waste." He mock sighed at that.

I hid my smile. "Well, it isn't too late to start again, you know. We have all of eternity after all to practice."

He smiled at me in response, his eyes showing the gratitude that they held in them. Disagreements were bound to happen, with Charlie or with any of the rest of them, for that matter. When you live for an eternity, it is impossible to even hope that you will never fight or disagree with another, but speaking it out and solving the matter was the only solution, in my opinion.

"When did you get this mature, huh?" he questioned, pride evident on his face.

I shook my head, amusement clear in my features. "Blame Renee for that, at times I could not figure out who was the parent between us."

He rubbed the back of his neck in nervousness, his mood changing suddenly. "About that, Bells…"

I groaned out loud. "Dad, please no. I am so done with heavy topics."

I really was in no mood for any more heart to heart talks. Couldn't we go back to our normal conversations of beating around the bush and pretending to be all awkward around one another?

I couldn't help but ponder over the benefits of that.

He put his hands up in defense. "Just one last thing,"

I rolled my eyes but nodded my head, as he continued. "I know I didn't fight for you enough, while you were growing up. I knew that Renee was not the ideal image of a mother, and that you were not always happy living with her. I knew that you did not get the chance to be a typical child or teenager as you were ridden with responsibilities that you were too young to be dealing with, but Bella," he sighed. "I was a coward. I had no support system to depend on. I did not know how to raise a child. I did not want to mess up and have you hate me. I would not have been able to bear that. At first you lived with Renee's mother and I was relieved, knowing that you were being looked after, but after that… I felt it was too late to try to insert my place. You were in that stage where you needed a female to guide you around. An awkward dad who could not talk to you about stuff like puberty, period, boys…." the both of us cringed simultaneously at that. If I considered Renee as bad when it came to talking about these things, I did not even want to imagine that conversation with Charlie. "It would not have been enough. I would not have been enough. At least Renee was a somewhat present parent. Between my job and otherwise aloof nature, I would have been a failure as a parent."

The regret was clear on his face, as I, instantly, wrapped my arms around him, comforting him, reminding him and even myself that we had not run out of time. I would never be a little girl again, but I would definitely need my father to be around.

"Is that why you came to look for me?" I whispered, almost inaudibly.

I hadn't known that Charlie cared this much. I had always believed that he would miss me, but soon come to accept my death and move on.

He widened his eyes in shock. "Of course, Bella, I know I don't show it very often, but I do love you and care for you."

I hid my smile behind a curtain of my own hair. I had a feeling that a few tears would have been rolling down by now, if I had the ability to do so.

"You took a damn big risk, though."

He shrugged at me. "Does not matter. The end result was worth it a hundred times over."

I nodded my head, glad that it was all out in the open between us, well, everything but one thing, the other big elephant in the room.

"Don't ever try to mess with Jasper again. He was being easy on you back then."

I had to warn him. I was trying to be a good daughter here, after all.

"And, what was with all that show of power? Were you trying to intimidate him?" I glared at him, crossing my arms over my chest. I was so annoyed at him…. and ridiculous show of masculinity.

Why did men have this urge to prove their superiority in front of other men? It was par ridiculous.

He scoffed. "I had to try. He is dating my daughter after all. I have to make sure that he is capable and deserving of you."

I rolled my eyes harshly. "Dad, we just spoke about this. Independence and free will, remember?"

He sighed, his eyes nearly pleading to me. "Come on, Bells. Don't take this away from me. It is like a rite of passage where I come from. You know I am a bit traditional in that sense and considering the fact that Jasper probably does belong to completely different century than ours, don't you think that he would be a bit more accepting and considerate of it. I am not even stating that he should court you beforehand, or sending a chaperone with you everywhere. Wasn't that what happened in the older centuries?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Jasper was born in 1844…."

"Damn! That's old." He interrupted me.

I widened my eyes at him, a smirk on my face. "Says the man mated to a woman born more than a thousand years back,"

"Touché," he stated, nodding his head.

"Anyway," I sighed. "Fine, have it whichever way you like, but all I am saying is that you don't want to mess with Jasper. What he did to you was just a brief demo of his actual capabilities. He is much more powerful than that. He was once termed to be the most dangerous vampire to exist in this world, his power of pathokinesis unparalleled, and Peter, Garrett and Charlotte are pretty much the same. You don't want to mess with the three of them. Wait, screw that. Even Kate is equally dangerous. Her ability of shocking a person using only the power of her mind is enough to force you to beg for death, and if you somehow manage to evade her, Garrett will tear you apart. There are no two ways about that. Tanya managed to save you back then, and Jasper wouldn't particularly harm you considering it would hurt me, but let's not play with luck here."

I was not naïve enough to not understand that Jasper had gone easy on Charlie, something he would definitely not have done if someone else had been stupid enough to challenge him in this form. The only reason why he had taken such a blow to his ego and his reputation as the God of war was because Charlie was my father and harming him would indirectly mean hurting me, something he didn't want to do.

And, I could not help but fall more in love with the man at this fact. He was ready to bear the humiliation (I was a hundred percent sure that Peter and Garrett would not let it go this easily), and blow to his pride for the sake of keeping me happy.

I could somewhat understand Charlie's reasons for doing what he did, and even the underlying love and care that he had for me, but still it did not make the situation any easier for me.

I was literally stuck in the middle.

"Damn. You sure know how to find them, Bells." Said Charlie, his expression bewildered at best.

I shrugged. What more could I say to that.

"Dad, just know that I know what I am doing. I am not jumping into anything without thinking first. Jasper is a good person. Trust me on this."

He sighed, but nodded his head. "Okay. I trust you. Anyway, I am not an idiot. I may overestimate my capabilities at times, but I am not completely lost in the head. After that little demonstration earlier, I would rather keep my distance from your mate." He was quiet for a few minutes before he hastily added. "Not that I cannot take the boy, because if he hurts you Bella….."

I could not help but laugh. He was at times adorable. "Yeah dad, I know. You will find a way to kick his ass."

"You bet, Bells." He said with a smirk of pride, making me roll my eyes, a smile on my face.

"Now, I don't know about you, but I am missing my mate and would like to go back to him. So, can we get on with it?" I asked, starting to walk deeper into the woods from where we had been talking for all this while.

Just talking or even thinking about Jasper was enough to bring out a big smile on my face these days. The other girls had told me of how it was a 'side effect' of the new mating bond that had been formed between us, but either way I missed Jasper and enjoyed his company far too much to be away from him for long.

Charlie sighed, muttering something about daughters growing up extremely fast, before taking into a run, smelling the scent of a herd of white- tailed deer nearby.

I stood back and observed the newborn Charlie in action. It was so unlike the human father I had earlier known, but in a way he was still the same. He was calm and patient, not falling into a feeding frenzy like I had almost expected, and within minutes he had buried the carcass of the deer that he had just drank from, surprising me with how quick he had been.

He came and stood beside me, a contemplative look on his face, before he shrugged and nodded his head. "You know, vampire mating sure is powerful. Now that I am sated, all I can think about is running back to Tanya, but that can also be because she is a succubus and…"

I rolled my eyes, not bothering to listen to the rest as I got into a run. I so did not want to bleach my brain, being forced to do so after listening to what Charlie had to say.

"TMI, dad, TMI," I groaned out.

His booming laugh came from behind me, as he too joined into a run.

"Hey, Bells?" he asked as we ran in the direction of the house, a short distance from here.

I made an hmm like sound as he continued. "Do you really believe that Edward Cullen is completely innocent?"

I stopped in my tracks, so not expecting this sudden of a topic change. I stared at him; open mouthed, waiting for him to continue.

"I asked if you truly believe Edward is innocent, that he actually slipped instead of purposefully murdering you. The rest of them believe this nonsense, hence I am asking you." he repeated, his hard eyes staring into mine, waiting for me to answer.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "I don't know, dad. I wish I remembered all that had happened. I guess it was traumatic for my human brain and so those memories have been blocked from reaching me….but I am sure that if I see him I will get back everything. At least I hope I do."

After all I did get back most of my memories when Jasper came in front of me. If Edward was the last missing key, then I would surely get back everything when, or if, I met him.

"In that case, what are you waiting for?" he asked, a frown on his face.

"Excuse me?" I asked slightly confused by his question.

He sighed. "Bella, if you know what you need to do to get your answer, why haven't you done it yet? Aren't you the least bit curious?"

Oh!

"Of course I am curious, but….. at first I was not ready to face that part of my life, and now…. Edward is Jasper's brother, dad. Jasper has lived decades with him. He trusts him….I am afraid what will happen if this trust of his gets broken…. He will feel betrayed and….."

"Bella," he interrupted me. "Does Jasper love you?"

I gave him a small whisper. "I think so."

We had not openly shared the three words with one another, but I did often get the feeling that Jasper loved me, or at least was on his way for falling in love with me.

"In that case," he started. "Jasper will be relieved to see the burden being lifted of your head. Bella, if you think you can go centuries avoiding a truth, it is not going to happen. The truth will come out, one way or another, and think about how betrayed Jasper would feel then. It would be like you didn't trust him enough to tell him what was on your mind."

I shook my head instantly. I trusted Jasper. I just didn't want to see him hurt.

"Talk to him." he said firmly. "And, in my opinion, go see this Edward fellow. You need answers in order to move on with a clean slate."

"Another thing," He stated slowly. 'Your truck had been tampered with, when I found it. Now, it could be a complete coincidence, someone playing a stupid prank on you or something, but it isn't very likely to be one. I thought you should know this."

"Oh." This changes things. I remembered my truck getting spoilt, but it being tampered with…this would change everything. This would mean….

"Talk to Jasper, and go see Edward. You need some answers here."

I nodded my head, mumbling a 'Thanks dad."

He smiled at me. "Anytime kiddo, see, I think got the cool dad thing correct."

I gave him a slight laugh, despite the turmoil present in my head. "Yeah, you did. I am… I am going to go find Jasper."

I could scent Tanya coming in our direction, and decided to go ahead and give them their privacy, while I went to find Jasper and talk to him, Charlie's last few words repeating in my mind.

Charlie just nodded his head at me, and I got into a run in the direction of the house. I could hear the boys cheering loudly as they played a video game in the living room, and started to form my words in my head.

Was this even the right time to bring this up?

Today had been a heavy day….. maybe I should wait for a few more days…..

But, before I could even decide on which direction I wanted to go in, there stood Jasper, waiting for me on the porch.

"I could feel your worry, darlin." He whispered to me. "What is wrong?"

I sighed. I was exhausted from all that had happened today. The talk with Charlie, the revelation, and now this…

Jasper pulled me into arms, his strong arms engulfing me in their security. I leaned into him, shutting my eyes as I breathe into his delicious scent and rested my head on his shoulder, while he soothingly ran his long fingers through my hair.

I could feel his calmness spread over me and I relished into it.

"Talk to me, Bella." He softly whispered in my ear. "I am here for you."

I nodded my head, sending him my love and gratitude in return, smiling when his arms tightened over me.

"I am ready." I finally whispered the words out. I was ready to face my past….. ready to get my answers…. and ready to know if Edward Cullen had actually slipped or not.

I knew that there was a possibility that Jasper would be betrayed if the truth was what I thought it was, but I could no longer bear to not know the mystery of my change. I needed to know the truth. I needed to see Edward Cullen punished for what he had done wrong.

"For what, darlin," he softly asked me, his lips leaving soft kisses all over my face, making me sigh out in this feel of sheer completeness.

"To meet Edward…..to know the truth….." I said without missing a beat.

He was quiet for a few minutes before he nodded his head. "Okay. I will make the arrangements."

I was confused by his nonchalance, and I could not stop myself from enquiring of the same. "Aren't you curious of why all of a sudden?"

He shook his head. "No. I knew this day was going to come sooner or later. You need to know the truth of your change, and I will support you in whatever we find out on this visit."

"He is your brother."

My voice sounded unsure to even myself, but his arms tightened their hold over me as he leaned down to kiss me on the forehead.

"And, you are my mate. I choose you, always. I will make the arrangements for us to go to Ithaca, which is where the Cullens currently are."