When the morning came, Bella was not hungover. Jacob was. She found him on the couch, arm laid over his eyes.

"I told you to drink water, bro," she said, punctuating her statement with a yawn.

She was unable to interpret the noises that comprised his response. Edward came shuffling out of his shared room with Emmett, hair damp and dressed in clean clothes.

"Your mans needs some Pedialyte," she said, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder in Jacob's direction.

"Oh, baby's first hangover?" said Edward.

Jacob let out another stream of incomprehensible sounds.

"There's some ibuprofen in the front pocket of my backpack," said Bella.

"Yeah, I'll get that for him."

As Edward went to fetch painkillers, Bella checked the time on her phone. A quarter till ten.

"He better recover fast, because we gotta bounce in like half an hour, maybe less," she said, plucking a silver package of pop tarts from one of the cabinets.

"Oh, the fishing trip?" said Edward, reappearing with a small white bottle and a glass of water.

"Lunch on the high seas. Wish I could be there," said Rosalie. "Not. But have fun. I guess?"

"I'll have something," said Bella.

She got dressed after she finished eating and walked outside to see what the others were up to on this fine Sunday morning. Across the way, the inhabitants of the girls cabin were sitting on their porch, drinking mimosas and listening to Drake. Bella decided to venture over while she waited for Jacob to become a functioning person.

"What's up?" she asked with a wave as she approached.

"We're just, y'know, enjoying the morning," said Lauren, swirling around her orange juice and cheap champagne.

"Really enjoying it, I see. These up for grabs?" Bella pointed at the opened bottles of champagne.

"Oh, absolutely. Go ahead!"

Bella plucked a solo cup from the stack on the handrail and started to fix herself a drink. Amongst the human girls was, of course, Leah, who had apparently crashed with them just as Jacob had with the Cullens.

"Good to see you're up," said Bella.

Leah tilted her head to the side, confused, and then a look of realization washed over her. "Ohhhhh. That's today?"

Bella nodded with a smile.

"Well, shit. Okay."

It wouldn't just be Bella and Charlie heading out on the open waters; Billy and Sue were also coming along, which meant that all their children would be required to attend as well.

"Hey, it's only like, a ten minute walk from here."

"True, true. I'm better off here than I was at home." She bit her lip. "Hope Seth makes it, though. I can't remember what he was supposed to be doing today."

That was code for "He was running patrols this morning."

"I'm sure he'll make it. That boy has never done a thing wrong in his entire life." Bella checked the time again and downed her mimosa as quickly as she poured it. "We better get going."

Leah leaned over to Angela and explained the fishing trip to her before giving her a kiss on the cheek and hopping out of her chair to follow Bella across the gravel lot to the Cullens' cabin. Jacob was being ushered out the door by Edward, wearing what Bella was certain were Emmett's clothes and sunglasses.

"Get fucked up last night, loverboy?" Leah jeered.

"Yeah. You didn't?" he said, his voice low.

"I know how to handle myself."

Jacob didn't respond either because he didn't have anything to say or because he couldn't muster up the energy to speak. Leah started to walk, leading the way out of the resort to the main road.

"There's no way they're not going to notice that you're hungover," said Bella.

"Well, pray tell, what am I supposed to do? Magically fix myself?"

Bella did her best to hold back a smile and nodded her head from side to side. "Maybe?"

"I don't think that's on the list of magical wolf powers that I've inherited."

"Damn shame. It is on the vampire list."

"Oh, fuck off."

The weather was pleasant, making the walk up to the marina enjoyable for those of them who hadn't been defeated by the prior night's festivities. The clouds overhead were letting a little more light through than usual, creating the illusion that it was almost a sunny day.

As they approached the docks, they spotted Seth standing by the rental shack, talking to Sam, who was working.

"Spending your day off sailing?" Sam asked them with a smile, and then he spotted Jacob. "Don't tell me you've been shirking your duties to get trashed."

"I wasn't on duty last night," said Jacob, pushing up his sunglasses.

Sam frowned, but let the subject drop. "Your parents are down that way, to the left."

Sure enough, Bella spotted Charlie waving at them from further down the pier.

Bella couldn't remember the last time she had gone fishing with Charlie. It had been at an age where she was too young to properly voice her opinions on things and, as such, had no way to communicate that she thought fishing was boring and gross. Outside of his job, fishing was one of her father's main passions, and she would have to live with that.

Charlie clapped Bella on the back as she boarded the boat, almost knocking her over.

"It's been a long time since we've done something like this together!" he said.

She could tell that he was excited to share this moment with her, so she put on her best smile and tried to appear enthusiastic, as did the others. Jacob was doing his best to hold it together, but once he was on the boat, he started looking even worse for wear. Bella felt sorry for him, but he had made his bed, and now it was time to lay in it. Or throw up in it. Only time would tell.

Once everyone was aboard, Charlie signaled to the captain, and they set sail, navigating out of the bay and around the islands that towered over the edge of the peninsula. Soon, La Push was a thin line on the horizon.

"I haven't been deep sea fishing in ages," said Billy, prepping his gear. "Thanks for this, Charlie. I mean it."

"Oh, I just wanted to get all of us together. Have a nice family outing, y'know?"

Jacob was hunched over the railing on the back of the boat, doing his best to keep himself together. Bella walked back to join him and began rubbing gentle circles into his back.

"You good?"

"Not really."

"Sorry about that."

"No, it's my fault." He let his head hang between his arms.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up. It happens to the best of us. If it's any consolation, I spent most of my days hungover when I was back in Phoenix. It takes time to get good at taking care of yourself while you're drunk, and, even then, you fuck up sometimes."

"I'll be fine, I just need a—" Jacob stopped speaking abruptly and began to gag.

Bella looked around to make sure none of the adults were watching, and she pushed Jacob's head over the edge of the boat. He vomited, loud and ugly, and then slumped over the railing.

"Puke and rally, king, puke and rally," she said, patting his back.

Jacob groaned.

Leah watched all this play out while Seth was taking fishing tips from Billy, the only one of the four kids who actually intended to do any fishing today. She walked to the back of the boat to sit down next to Bella and Jacob.

"He seems spectacular," she said.

"He'll be alright," said Bella. "How are you?"

"Stellar. I drank like three bottles of water before I passed out last night."

"Did you piss yourself in your sleep?"

Leah laughed. "No, I just had to go straight to the bathroom when I woke up."

"So, how are things going with Angela? Seems like you two are really vibing these days."

"It's going great, really," said Leah, hugging her knees. "Like a dream."

Bella had to stop herself from asking Leah if she thought it was all going to fall apart one day. She didn't want to inflict her anxieties on anyone else.

Instead, she quietly asked, "Have you thought about when you're going to tell her?"

Leah bit her lip. "A little bit. I just can't figure out the right time, y'know? I mean, there really is no right time. It's a lot to dump on someone."

"Are you afraid she'll freak out?"

"Yeah, totally. Knowing all that… It's a huge commitment. You understand."

Bella did understand. There's a whole other world out there that most people don't know about, and once you tell someone, they're in it for life—or they get killed.

"Yep. It's a lot."

Out of everyone on this boat, Charlie was the only one who didn't know. Here he was, oblivious to the fact that he was fishing on a boat with three werewolves, oblivious to the fact his own daughter was a walking corpse. Even his best friend and his girlfriend knew that, but he didn't.

Bella wasn't sure she wanted him to know. In the end, it wasn't up to her.

Once they had anchored themselves in a good spot, Charlie called everyone to the front of the boat, saying he had an announcement to make. Bella hadn't expected this, but there was only one thing he could be talking about. As they gathered, Charlie slipped his arm around Sue's waist, smiling like a fool.

"Well, I—no, I guess, we have something to tell you."

Everyone knew what was going on before Charlie had even said it (except maybe Seth). Billy's expression was unreadable, as was Leah's. Bella was honestly shocked. This was something she had speculated with Jacob about, but she never thought it would become a reality. Even Alice had said that she had seen it happening, but Bella had never considered that to be real; Alice's visions could change at any time. Her future vision was subject to the whims of the universe, and the future was never set in stone.

"We're getting married!" Charlie said, his smile so bright that it was blinding.

No one knew how to react. An awkward silence fell over the boat. Sue began to look uncomfortable.

Seth started clapping, and the others followed his lead. Bella struggled to find her words.

"Congrats, dad! I'm happy for you guys, I really am." She had meant that honestly, but her phrasing made it sound disingenuine.

"Yes, congratulations," said Billy, forcing a smile. "This will be… interesting. A new experience, for all of us."

"It's not going to be a big deal, really. We don't want it to be a big deal," said Charlie, scratching the back of his head. "Just a small thing, with close friends and family. We just wanted to, uh, make things official."

This was progress for Charlie. He had only been married once, and it had ended horribly. The fact that he wanted to try again meant something—it meant that he cared a great deal about Sue, and he wanted to support her to the best of his ability.

Bella looked at Seth and Leah. "I guess this means we're like, official siblings."

Seth whooped in excitement, but, behind them, Bella could see Billy's displeasure with the idea that Charlie and Sue's marriage would be yet another union between the pack and the Cullens.

-X-

Bella delivered the news to everyone when she returned to the cabin that evening. Jacob, Seth, and Leah had gone their separate ways to run patrols, so she was alone with the vampires.

"This… changes things. A bit," said Edward.

"I mean, I did see it coming," said Alice.

"We were never sure how reliable that vision was. What about the wolves? Why didn't their presence interfere?"

"I'm working on that!"

"Regardless, Charlie will learn our secrets eventually. This guarantees that."

"She could just opt not to tell him," Jasper pointed out.

"But why would she do that? Especially when she's always been so judgemental of me? You know she wants to expose all the shit I've been doing," said Bella.

"Well, I, for one, am extremely excited by the idea of a wedding," said Alice. "This is something to be excited about!"

"This is something I need to have a drink about," said Bella, heading straight to the kitchen.

"I echo that sentiment," said Edward, following her.

The humans had returned from hiking an hour or so earlier and were now setting up a volleyball net on the beach. After she had fixed a rum and coke, Bella watched them struggle to anchor the net in the sand.

"It's our last night here. We might as well make it hella lit," she said, taking a big gulp of her drink.

And so, they entered another fast downward spiral of alcohol. The sun went down, and Bella lost all sense of what time it was or how many drinks she had consumed. The act of traveling from place to place was a foreign concept to her; one moment, she was on the beach, the next, she was at the boys' cabin, taking shots, and the next, she was in their cabin, hanging off Rosalie and speaking nonsense.

"Babe, you know I'm like, so in love with you, right?"

"Yes, we went over this last night."

Rosalie was almost totally sober, opting to be the responsible member of the family yet again. She was finishing her last bottle of wine, and she was taking it slowly.

"We're… We're gonna be together forever."

"Yep. Sure are."

Rose couldn't decide whether to be concerned or amused by Bella's behavior. She settled somewhere between the two.

"What if we got married?"

"We definitely can."

"We can?"

"Yeah. We can."

Something lit up in Bella's eyes, but Rosalie had no idea what it was.

"We'll get married."

"Uh huh."

Bella caught sight of Edward walking by, and she detached herself from Rosalie to follow him, saying something incomprehensible about getting married. Rosalie watched her go, worried that she was, perhaps, a bit too drunk, but she decided to let her have this. It was their last night at the resort, and Bella would have to do some tough things later this week.

She, Charlie, and Jacob would be taking a truck down to Phoenix to get the rest of Bella's things out of Renee's house. Rosalie desperately wished that she could go with them. In truth, not much was stopping her from following them, but she had decided to be respectful of Charlie. Rosalie didn't have a place in Bella's past, and she trusted Jacob to help her deal with whatever problems would inevitably arise.

Bella deserved to have fun, if only for a weekend. Rosalie would let her have it.

hey folks! this one ended up being kind of short and probably should've been part of the previous chapter, but i just didn't outline it that way for some reason? oh well. i wanted to go ahead and move into the next (and final) "arc". this was sort of the beach episode for everyone, and now we're going to get into the real serious stuff

as always, thanks for reading!