Chapter 33: Charlie

Bella's POV

The Denalis were still alive. Against my better judgment. Before Edward, Jacob, or I could do any real damage the rest of the family had pulled us off of them. Then Jasper used his gift to calm us all down. Which then made me irritated with Jasper. Though it was impossible to feel irritated at first.

The Denalis left after Carlisle yelled at them to get out. Carlisle was such a peaceful man that whenever he displayed anger it was such a shock to me. It was obvious that he and the rest of the family were just as upset by the people we once considered family. Thet were just in much better control of themselves to stop themselves from killing them.

The Denalis didn't even apologize for what they'd done. Not that I would ever forgive them for this treachery. But still for them to not even admit that they did anything wrong...it was so infuriating. How could they think that my daughter was better off growing up away from her own family?!

"I'm sorry Bella," I could feel Edward's arms embracing me.

"Sorry for what? You didn't do anything wrong Edward. How could you have known what they were doing?"

"But I should've known they were up to something. Remember all those times we asked as if we could go up there to see them in Alaska? Remember how they always turned us down? They had never refused a visit from us before. I should have known that something was wrong. I should have known that they were hiding something,"

"and how were you supposed to know that they were hiding something? Its not like you can read their minds over the phone. Don't blame yourself for this Edward. It's not your fault. It's their fault. They kept our daughter from us,"

"I still should've-"

"Edward listen to me. I know that you're naturally stubborn and hard headed but listen to me. This was not your fault. The only people at fault here is the Denalis. All that matters right now is protecting our daughter and grandson,"

"Speaking of which where are they?" Jacob asked. I froze when I only heard two hearts beating instead of four.

"Ness left with Junior awhile ago," Lily's voice interjected. "As you all were fighting,"

I wanted to slap myself. How was it that it was so difficult to keep track of one half human girl? Was that a secondary talent of hers? Sneaking away? I was starting to think that we should just insert a tracker into her. I'd probably never do it but still. I should be able to notice when my own daughter disappears from right underneath my nose.

"She couldn't have gotten very far," Edward spoke. "I'm sure she stayed within the town's limits. She probably wanted to get away to protect herself and our grandson,"

So we were a danger to our own daughter? I'd like to think that even in a fit of immense anger I would never hurt my own daughter. Not even by accident. But I couldn't exactly blame Nessie for wanting to protect her child from possible danger. I would have done the same.

"Let's go find her," I said as I ran toward the door.

Tracking her scent was easy. We tracked it all the way to the diner that my dad loved so much. I felt a spasm of panic when I couldn't track anything beyond that. It was obvious that she had already left the restaurant. But neither of us could track where she'd gone next.

"Where could she have gone from here?" I wondered aloud.

"Who knows," Jacob said. "The good thing is there is nothing but human scent around here. That tells me that she is not in any danger,"

"How do we know that for sure? What if it's a vampire that can disguise his or scent?"

"Bella she's fine. They both are. I would feel it in my heart if something was wrong,"

That made me feel a lot better. I trusted Jacob's judgement.

"We will keep searching," Edward added.

Search we did. We looked everywhere we could possibly think of and we did not come across her scent anywhere. Where could she be? I found myself walking down a path that was all too familiar. In my haste to find my daughter I did realize how close I'd gotten to my old house.

Then I caught wind of her scent. I caught my father's scent as well and immediately noticed that something was off about it. Mixed in was the scent of a human I'd never come across before. I hadn't seen my father in so many years. I'd fallen out of contact with him because I thought that would be the best thing for him. Just like I hadn't spoken to my mother in the same amount of years for the same reason. If they didn't know where I was there was no danger of them discovering what I was by accident.

Now here I was. So many years later. I walked up to the door and rang the doorbell just once.

"Henry can you get that for me?" I heard my father ask.

"Sure dad,"

Sure dad? Sure dad? Did I hear that correctly? The door opened revealing a boy that looked no older than nine or ten years old. He gasped and went water than a sheet. The boy ran away from us as fast as he could, tripping on the staircase in his haste to get away from us

"That's Charlie's son," Edward informed me. "and Sue's"

"Why did he run off?"

"Because he knows. He recognized us for what we were right away. He's half Quileute so he's heard all the stories from the elders and the other wolves as well. Though he is sworn to secrecy and he's not allowed to tell Charlie or anyone else anything. He's hoping that he inherited the shape-shifting gene from Sue and that he'll one day make the transformation himself,"

Before I could ask anymore questions I heard my father approaching. My father stopped and gasped when he saw me. We looked into each others eyes for the first time in 12 years.

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