A/NSO SORRY for the late update!!! From here on out I'm gonna try and stick to updates on Fridays with teasers posted on my Facebook page every Tuesday! If you'd like to follow the page just search for DaniDarlingxx Fanfics! Love you all endlessly for your feedback and love for my stuff!XX, Dani
Chapter 13:
I had seen Bella in pain only a handful of times before, and thanks to my inhumanly sharp mind and perfect recall all of those events came screeching into my thoughts to administer my own personal brand of torture. James, sinking his teeth into her and breaking her leg. The papercut and subsequent reactions that resulted in me shoving her into the table at her birthday a couple years ago. Her stubborn heroic self inflicted cut during the fight with Victoria. And more recently, her agonizing three day change from human to vampire. Each time, it had been my fault. I couldn't seem to catch a break, faced with the reality that she wouldn't feel pain if not for my presence in her life.
In the minutes after realization of the mark I had left on her and the burn coursing through her as a direct result of my venom, I had extracted myself from her body and put my pants back on once reality came screeching back to me.
"Bella, my love, I'm so sorry." I took a couple of steps to stand next to her.
She was gripping the spot I had bitten but held up her other hand as if to ward me off and my chest clenched with rejection and agony. Her jaw was clamped shut tight and her face twisted in pain. "Edward, just...give me a minute, okay?" She pleaded with me.
Leaning against the back of the sectional, I heaved a heavy sigh and nodded, burying my face in my hands. We had hardly been back in Forks for two days and I was already messing things up. I didn't know what to expect from her at this point. Human Bella would forgive me in a heartbeat and tell me that it wasn't my fault, but newborn Bella could very possibly metaphorically rip my head off at any given second. I didn't believe for a second that she was a true danger to me. Just as she had trusted me not to hurt her in her more fragile state, I trusted her all the same while I was now the fragile one. That didn't mean that I wanted an argument between us, and it didn't mean that it didn't completely kill me to see her hurting at my hands yet again.
How was I supposed to be a good husband to her for the rest of eternity if I had already managed to cause her pain?
A soft hand brushed my arm, causing me to lift my head to see crimson eyes inches from mine. "I'm so sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am," I whispered. The sorrow and remorse I felt was a deep river in me, but I couldn't come up with the words to convey that to her.
"It's fine. You didn't do it on purpose," she placed a kiss on my cheek then pulled my arms around her waist, pressing her naked skin against mine and laying her head on my shoulder.
My eyes were burning with tears that wouldn't come as the guilt consumed me, but I held her tight and buried my face in her hair, breathing her in. "Does it still hurt?"
"Not as bad. Though I have a much healthier appreciation for what Jasper has been through," she said quietly against my chest. I could feel her breath floating across my skin and as wrapped up in her as I was any time she was this close to me, the thought still caused me to wince and hold her tighter.
"I don't know why it is that I still can't control myself with you."
"'Cause you love me," she replied with a shrug.
"Understatement of the millenia, love." I pulled her chin up so she was looking at me again. "You're my everything. My entire universe. The sun around which I orbit. And I will spend the rest of eternity showing you how sorry I am for all the things I've messed up."
She smiled as I placed a sweet, chaste kiss on her lips. "Edward, it's fine. In fact," at this her smile turned positively wicked, "it's actually kind of hot."
I shivered as her hands ran up my back and I raised my eyebrows. "You're going to have to explain that one to me, love."
"Well, for one thing, you're so passionate with your love for me that you just can't help yourself. That feels good, you know? It's as if you just find me so sexy that you can't hold back."
I rolled my eyes. "Yes, it's so hot that I can't control myself and I keep hurting you." I stated facetiously.
"It is. And besides...this is going to scar right?"
"Fuck," I cursed, closing my eyes in shame. "Yes, I suppose it will."
"So I will always have a mark on me that tells everyone that I'm yours."
There was some deep-seated, primal part of me that delighted in the sound of that, and though I felt myself hardening at the thought it didn't stop the self loathing seeping into my bones. I brought my hand up to sweep her chestnut locks to the left side of her shoulders, inspecting the silvery crescent shape my teeth had embedded into her skin. Lightly, I traced over the mark with my thumb resulting in a pleased sigh falling from her perfect lips.
"I'll never get tired of you touching me. It's like every nerve in my body is drawn to the surface. I keep expecting it to dim, even just a little bit, but it never does." Bella sighed, her voice only a whisper.
I smiled sadly, leaning to press a kiss to the only scar she now had on her otherwise perfect body. "No, my love, and it never will. Your touch has always done that to me. Your heightened senses may be a shock to your system now, but once you adjust it will simply be your new normal."
Her slim, dainty fingers traced indiscernible patterns on either side of my spine and I reveled in the sensation. "I am, you know," she stated, causing me to pull down and look at her with my eyebrow raised in confusion. "Yours, I mean. And I like that everyone can see that and know for certain."
Pulling her left arm around from me, I held her hand up and kissed the pad of her ring finger that wore my mother's ring. "That's what this is for."
She rolled her eyes at me, a teasing smile playing on her lips. "Yeah, but that can be taken off."
"Would you like to bet me on that?" I jested. This woman, I swear. She always had a way of pulling me out of my own self revulsion without even doing much. It would only be easier for her as she got a hold of her emotions and we learned more about each other. I would forever wonder what I did to deserve her, but I would never hate myself enough to let her go. I made that mistake once, never again.
Her hand ran down my chest and abdomen, then her brows furrowed and a small frown formed as she looked down at my pants. "When did this happen?" She tugged on the waistband.
"While you were writhing in pain that I caused. I didn't feel right standing naked behind you when I hurt you," I shrugged.
"Let me get one thing straight with you right now," she tugged at the button, breaking the button and the zipper in one swift move. I didn't need to be a mind reader to hear Alice groan all the way from the main house. "I always want you naked." She was trailing her lips along my chest, moving up before nipping my collarbone while pushing my jeans from my hips. "Behind me," they trailed up my neck. "In front of me," her tongue traced the line of my jaw. "Underneath me," teeth nipping the sensitive spot below my ear, the same place I had worshipped on her so many times while she was human. "And inside me," these words were whispered in my ear, her breath warm against me while her hand grabbed my member and forcing a growl to rumble from my chest. "Take me to our bed, Edward."
Who was I to deny a lady?
I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around me, my erection pressing against her core while our lips frantically sought out each other. Everything about her was like a balm to my damaged soul, soothing me and warming me in a way that only she knew how.
The bed that Esme had outfitted us with was a gigantic four posted canopy bed, made of a strong metal that was fashioned to look like a deep cherry wood. The scent of the material was the only thing that gave away that it was not, in fact, made of wood. It had been made abundantly apparent that we would need sturdier materials. Sheer cream colored fabric hung from the canopies, and the bedding was the same as the gold set I had purchased for our bed at the house, though the bed itself was much larger.
I made my way to the bed and bent to lay my bride on it, separating from her only so I could properly pay homage to her body. While I looked her over she took the room in, her hands coming out on either side of her to feel the fabric of the bedding. I was suddenly hyper aware of the static in the air between us. I had always described it as electricity or fire, but it was so much more. Nothing short of the most powerful type of magic surrounding us, wrapping us up, and pulling us together. I had trespassed in the minds of millions and I had yet to witness a bond this strong and pure. Everything I had ever encountered paled so fully in comparison to this and it was overwhelming to think about. I was drowning in her, and it was absolutely delicious.
After her inspection of her surroundings, her eyes met mine and I wanted to weep with the emotion in them. All-encompassing, consuming, engulfing passion that was so much more than any word that any language had ever come up with. We didn't need words, this was all that mattered. Just the two of us. Here. Now. Forever. Always.
Slowly, I moved above her and pressed our bodies together as fully as I could. Our lips met again in a slow, languid, passion-filled dance that had my chest swelling to burst. We already had the white-hot flash-burn that came with fucking, but now I was taking my time. Idolizing and adulating every bit of the resplendent woman below me.
Hands turned into warm licks of flames against each other's bodies, heating us from the inside out while we possessed each other. I wasn't yet inside her and yet I felt like we were one entity, moving together to build into a fever pitch of emotion that had the capability to shatter everything around us.
Bella spread her legs for me, keeping them pressed flush against my hips and the outsides of my thighs and I didn't require her words to hear the pleading. I buried into my home, filling us both to the brim with want and need and a frantic sort of craving that could only be cured by the hours of love making that lay before us.
As we moved together, I composed. An enchanting rhapsody that began affetuoso alla adante, transitioning to allargando with an accompanying crescendo and long sweeping notes, weeping with the tonality of our moans and cries. We played each other's bodies with the precision I had only ever displayed against the ivory keys of my piano. In fact, I knew her much more intimately than it. Our pleasure and my paean soared to intense, possessing notes of devotion as both of us keeled over the precipice of our first climax, tumbling after one another while the world around us faded to black.
Alice called us back to the house exactly 37 hours later. We, of course, stayed tangled in each other the entire time with the knowledge that there was no guarantee on when the opportunity would arise again for us to make love. That didn't mean that we weren't averse to quick rendezvous in bathrooms, closets, or wooded areas. Vampires had needs of course. But the time to devote to one another for hours on end may not present itself for many days to come, and as much as I loathed it we had more pressing issues on our plates.
The family had decided to allow Bella to see Charlie. To say I was unhappy about the decision would be a grand understatement, but I did my best to keep emotions in check. Bella needed any ounce of emotional strength and support that I could muster, and I did not wish to waste the energy being upset about something I couldn't control. It was very much unlike me, but then again Bella had already changed me in so many different ways I wasn't too alarmed.
We all set off on a family hunting trip to ensure that Bella especially was well fed, and it was decided that when Charlie got off of work, we would all head over to his house. Bella had the desire to visit her human home now that she was no longer one. It was a last farewell to her humanity for her, one that I didn't have in me to deny considering how the events of her change had transpired.
"I'm still not seeing any immediate danger, Bella. I think you're going to do really well today. And even if Charlie is upset at first, he's going to be thrilled to see you." Alice said, smiling proudly and handing Bella a case of contacts. "Now, I have more of those so don't worry too much about how long we stay. Edward and I will go in with you, Jasper and Emmett will be up in your room, and Carlisle, Esme, and Rose will each be positioned around the house."
Bella rolled her eyes. "Okay, but is all of this really necessary?"
"Probably not, but you can never be too careful. We've all slipped, Bella. Well all except for Carlisle and Little Miss Perfect over there," Alice added, jerking her thumb toward Rosalie who was smiling smugly. "We just want to make sure that if and when you do slip, it's not on the most important human in your life."
Bella nodded sadly, sliding the contacts into the front pocket of her painted on jeans. After the two of us surveyed the closet Alice had set up for her this morning, I was pretty positive that my sister was out to torture me considering even the most modest of clothing that we found had still been dangerously form fitting. Bella had opted for a cream colored thermal and a pair of skinny jeans with some black motorcycle boots that came up to her knees. She had a forest green anorak jacket with a hood so she could be dressed appropriately for the weather, but everything about her looked sinfully tempting and it agitated me a bit that I couldn't reign in my desire for her during such a serious time.
A thought struck me while I was agonizing, a smile lighting up my face which caused Bella to look up at me in confusion. "Love, I think we should take your car to go see your father," I offered.
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "I don't need to drive that tank anymore, Edward. We can just take the Volvo."
I shook my head. "Not the Guardian, love. It's long gone."
Bella rolled her eyes as I steered her away from the house and the family excitedly followed. Rosalie, especially, had been begging me to drive Bella's 'after car' since I purchased it and placed it under the tarp in the garage. Bella knew I had a new car waiting for her, much to her chagrin, she just had no earthly idea what it could be. Admittedly this purchase was a little selfish, much like most things I did. I longed for her and I to bond over the feeling of having such a powerful machine surrounding you and the exhilaration that came with the speed when you knew you could not crash and even if you did you wouldn't be harmed.
Once inside the garage, Bella leaned heavily on one leg and crossed her arms over her chest, positively pouting as she looked at the car-shaped form.
A strange sound rang out and I realized it was laughter coming from Rosalie. It had been such a long time since I had heard such a carefree and true sound come from her. Before Bella came along. "Most women would be thrilled that their men loved to spoil them so much, and yet here you are pouting about it! You're such a funny little newborn, I never would have imagined."
Emmett joined her with his booming, boisterous chuckles while Bella glared at Rose, but the corners of her mouth turned up in a betraying smile. I saw a flash in Alice's mind of her pulling the tarp off in a dramatic, showgirl style flourish and I nodded at her in permission.
My gaze focused on my wife as the tarp came off, revealing the candy apple red Ferrari F430 and her jaw dropped. "Edward, this is ridiculous. You couldn't have gone with something a little more inconspicuous?" Her tone was not upset, though it didn't hold quite the appraising tone I had hoped for.
"Absolutely not, love. You are far too beautiful for inconspicuous," I told her, pulling her to me and pressing a kiss to her temple.
Alice jumped and clapped her hands excitedly. "Oh, I have the perfect thing to match this in your closet! Maybe we should go change…"
"I am not showing up at my father's in some slutty red cocktail dress, Alice," Bella stated with finality, causing Alice to pout.
"Fine, party pooper." She muttered, clasping her hands behind her back.
"We can't drive this, it only has two seats. Alice won't fit," Bella stated, seemingly proud to have an excuse not to drive her new car.
I shrugged. "It does have a small trunk we can squeeze her in."
Alice flitted over to me and punched me weakly in the arm with her tiny fist. "Very funny. I'll ride in the Jeep with Jas, Em, and Rose. We'll park a couple blocks away and run the rest of the way to meet you there."
"Alright, let's get this show on the road. I have some ass kicking to do later," Emmett said, heading towards his own car. Jasper seemed to bounce right along with Alice as they clasped hands tightly, positively euphoric over the light, if temporary, mood that surrounded us. Carlisle and Esme took his Mercedes and I walked over to the driver's side of the Ferrari to open the door for Bella.
"After you, my bride," I told her, beaming proudly.
"You're awfully smug that you're finally getting me in a sports car, aren't you?" She asked.
"I made sure it was red like your dumb truck." I implored innocently.
She pointed her finger at me. "Hey, don't disrespect the dead."
Finally she conceded and climbed into the vehicle, and I followed suit. She looked around for a second, taking in the interior and running her fingers over the wheel while I dug the keys from my pocket and placed them in the ignition. "Alright, sweetheart. Show me what you got." I told her, leaning over the center console to steal a kiss as she turned the key.
It was a bit of a rocky start as Bella adjusted to pressing the pedals with the appropriate amount of strength. At one point she shot us forward and very nearly hit a tree, but thankfully avoided it with her quick reflexes. I could only imagine the comments from the peanut gallery that is Emmett if she managed to crash merely seconds after being behind the wheel.
By the time we made it down our driveway and onto the main road, Bella had figured everything out and it was a smooth, fun ride from that point on. I even caught a wide smile on her face at one point, but I refrained from saying anything, opting instead to place my hand on her thigh and give it a squeeze. "I'm gonna need you to hold off on that, Edward," She said sternly.
"What? I didn't do anything wrong," I replied sliding the hand further up her thigh. She removed one hand from the steering wheel and slapped my hand playfully and I pulled it back, shooting her a joking scowl.
"The last thing I need to be thinking about is you sliding your fingers inside me when I'm trying not to eat my father," she said, laughing and grabbing my hand to lace our fingers together.
I groaned. "Well, then you really shouldn't go around saying things like that, love."
Bella simply shot me one of her dangerously sexy smirks, forcing me to adjust myself uncomfortably and try desperately to think of gross things to will my erection away. This proved to be a not-so-easy feat when you were in the small confines of a car that is the equivalent of sex-on-wheels, surrounded by the mouthwatering aroma of your wife, who is the single most gorgeous being to grace the earth.
Soon enough we were pulling in front of the home I had spent the better part of two years sneaking into, the police cruiser parked in the spot that used to hold her decrepit Chevy. Alice appeared next to the car the exact moment I climbed out and I turned to open the door for Bella, but she had already exited the driver's side.
"Why must you fight every single move I make to be a gentleman?" I asked her while I climbed out of the car.
"I can open my own door, Edward. It's not exactly difficult." Bella stood next to me and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly and earning a sigh from me.
"Okay, Bella. Edward says you guys worked a little on your human movements on the island, but you just have to remember. Don't breathe, but move your shoulders like you are, blink a few times a minute, and fidget. Cross your legs, play with your hair, switch your positions, whatever you need to do. After a little bit it will start coming to you naturally, but you'll really have to try for a while. If at any point you need to take a breath or change your contacts, you can excuse yourself to get a drink, go to the bathroom, or say you want to get some things out of your bedroom. If you get a glass or a bottle of water you can pretend to sip it, as long as we're not there for a very long time, humans generally don't notice that the water isn't disappearing. But after a little bit you might want to start swallowing and we can get rid of it later," Alice rambled.
Hehe, bet it wouldn't be the first time she swallowed, I heard Emmett think, causing me to scowl at his brashness.
Perimeter secured, positions in place, all systems go, Jasper communicated to me, letting me know that they had made it to her bedroom.
"Blink. Fake breath. Fidget. Don't swallow. Got it." Bella stated, nodding in affirmation and taking the contacts out to put them in her eyes.
Don't swallow? Rough luck, Ed. Emmett chuckled and I rolled my eyes.
"What?" Bella asked incredulously, seemingly assuming that she was the reason for my expression.
"Oh, it's just Emmett being his usual juvenile self," I told her, pulling her to me to press my lips against hers. "Don't worry, love, I have full confidence that you will kick his ass for him later."
She smiled up at me and I took in what was going on inside the home. It was the same low mumble of a TV and wordless, silent thoughts of a man tired from coming home from work that I had observed on so many nights before this one. "Are you ready, love?"
"Yeah," She nodded and we all three headed up to the door. "It feels weird to knock on my own door." She said before doing just that.
Charlie opened the door and his mouth fell open while shock registered in his thoughts, followed immediately by a heady sense of relief and a strong tenor of fatherly love, then a layer of confusion and incredulity filtered in as he took her appearance in. "Bells? Is that you?" He asked, frozen in his position.
"Yeah, dad, it's me," She said, attempting to roughen her voice up a bit, only marginally successfully.
Charlie stared at her for a beat before his eyes drifted to me and disdain set in, then to Alice where a fondness made itself apparent. I was sure that in all the time I had known Charlie, I had never seen him experience so many conflicting emotions all at one time.
"Um, can we come in?" Bella asked.
That seemed to snap him out of whatever weird stupor he was in. "What? Oh, yeah, of course you can." He opened the screen door and stepped back to let us in and I watched Alice's thoughts for any changes.
Bella pulled me into the house and hastily made her way to the living room, attempting to keep her distance somewhat with her father. "Uh, hey Edward. Alice, it's really good to see you too. I've missed you and my girl around here." Charlie stated in a way that made it evident that I was not missed in the slightest. I didn't have it in me to blame him for how he felt towards me, though. I had taken his daughter from him twice, left her once, and hauled off and married her after all of that. I already had enough self loathing for the both of us, so I could hardly expect any different from him.
"You look good, Charlie," Alice said, giving him a smile but avoiding hugging him so it wouldn't pull his attention to the fact that Bella hadn't.
Bella and I sat on the old, dingy couch, Alice plopped herself cross legged on the floor in front of us, and Charlie sat in his favorite chair. "So, uh, is someone going to clue me in?" He asked, leaning his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together."
"There's nothing to clue you into, Dad. We had a great time on our honeymoon and we just got home and I wanted to see you," Bella told him.
Charlie was quiet for a while. He was taking everything in. Her complexion, snow white and perfect, her hair fuller and shinier, her features all slightly modified and perfected. Her posture was different, her voice was different, nothing was right. Even her eyes were muddy and dark rather than their normal clear brown. I wanted to tell him that I missed them too, the depth of her chocolate eyes. I probably always would.
"Bells… Something is going on here and you need to tell me. I know I'm your old man, but I'm not stupid," He said, his voice soft and pleading and just a little bit lost.
"Dad, I need you to believe me when I tell you that I can't. If I told you the truth of what was going on, it would put you in danger." As Bella spoke, darkness clouded his features as he translated that to mean that Bella was in danger.
"What in the hell did he do to you, kid?" Charlie wasn't shouting because Charlie didn't raise his voice, but he was pointing his finger towards me and his face was red. Alice was quiet, still flashing through potential scenarios. One of which included Charlie attempting to throw me out of the house and finding me immovable, but none of them including Bella sinking her teeth into her father so I kept myself quiet as well.
"He didn't do anything to me, dad. I'm happier and healthier than I've ever been. I need you to just trust me on that and you can still have me in your life."
"And what happens if I don't?" He asked.
"Then we have to leave. And I don't want that any more than you do," Bella said.
Charlie sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing a hand over his tired face. "I swear, kid, if I catch wind that anything has happened to you…" He trailed off, then changed his course to me. "If you let anything happen to her," He accused, and I could see in his thoughts the fear and reluctance. He had agreed to give his daughter away to me because he knew it would make her happy, but this was more than he could understand and he was grappling with it heavily. I wished that his thoughts came in more solid words like everyone else's did so I could understand exactly what conclusion he was drawing to these strange events in order for us to deal with it appropriately and deliver the appropriate information.
"I would never allow any harm to come to her, sir. I would die before I allowed that." I told him sincerely, my tone laced with true conviction.
He nodded in reluctant acceptance and Bella leaned forward to take his hand in hers. I fought the urge to pull her back to me because we were reaching some dangerous territory.
She's in pain from the thirst but I'm doing what I can to take the edge off, Jasper informed me, and I felt a small wave of calm come over me as well that was administered by his powers.
"Dad, I'm not in any danger. You raised me to be smarter than that. I'm good. I'm better than good. I'm happy and in love and surrounded by people I love, and I just want you to be a part of that." Bella told him, her voice clearly strained.
Charlie considered her a bit before nodding, and they both pulled their hands back. "As long as you let me know if that changes. I won't have you unhappy for any reason."
Bella nodded and smiled. "I promise, dad. Now, catch me up on the Forks gossip since I've been gone."
Charlie smiled just a little, the emotion not reaching his eyes. "Well, word around the town is that you're pregnant. Glad to see that's not true." He chuckled a humorless laugh, as did Bella, but I remained silent and Alice was too busy flipping through the future to say anything. "That's not true, is it?" He asked, glaring at me.
"No, it's not true. Though even if it were, you would have no reason to be mad about it." Bella said, scowling at him. I hated that it was something I could never give her, no matter how she insisted that it wasn't something that she would want.
"I'm just too young to be a grandpa, Bells. I know what it's like to be a young parent and it's not easy. You guys have all the time in the world before you take that step." It struck me that for a man of few words, he was quite passionate about this.
Bella laughed, a true tinkling laugh when the irony that he could not see struck her. "Yeah, that we do. And we're in no hurry to grow up." I smiled at her wit, squeezing her hand.
"Coulda fooled me, getting hitched as soon as you graduated. It's like you guys were on a timer or something." Charlie said.
"We just wanted to start our lives together, that's all." Bella said, looking at me happily. "This isn't like you and mom. We're going to be doing everything together from here on out."
Charlie nodded and grunted a bit, not entirely convinced or pleased.
Alice took a deep breath as she realized danger had officially been averted and she jumped right into an animated conversation mostly between the three of them. I interjected enough to not seem rude or to make the man loathe me more than he already did, but he wasn't exactly interested in much of what I had to say.
"So, what's the plan?" He asked about an hour later, after catching up with his daughter and his favorite Cullen.
"Plan?" Bella asked.
"Yeah, are you guys still going to Dartmouth? Are you gonna hang out here for a little while? What's going on?"
"Oh, yeah, we're still going," Bella flashed her eyes to me, clearly still a horrible liar. "We just wanted more time on our honeymoon, so we're not starting until next semester. But the apartment is already ready to go, so we'll be heading out there soon to get settled in and stuff."
Charlie grunted again, leaning back and running a finger over his mustache in concern. He wasn't so eager to buy what she was selling, but he was also well aware that pushing her too hard would push her away. "Just stay in touch, Bells."
"I will, dad. I promise," Her voice gave way to the tears that would never spill and she took a shuddering and surely painful breath before she stood up. "Edward, I think Esme might have dinner ready, don't you? We should head back."
I nodded and stood with her, holding my hand out to Charlie. "It was nice seeing you, Chief."
"Yeah, you too," Charlie responded noncommittally, shaking my hand with a brute strength that would have bothered a human. "I mean it. Anything happens to her, I'm coming for you."
I smiled despite myself and nodded. "You have my word that nothing ever will."
He gave me the good old cop glare, then pulled Bella into a hug. She stiffened and it was immediately apparent to him how her body had changed, the coldness and hardness of it where she had once been warm and soft. He pulled back quickly, his brows furrowed with concern.
Alice bounced in and hugged him, mostly as a distraction, and his response softened just a bit when he realized that she felt the same. "We'll all take really good care of her, Charlie. See you later!"
"Don't be a stranger, kid." Charlie said once we got to the door.
"I won't be," Bella gave him a weak smile, then took one more look around the house before we headed out.
When we got to the car, she asked me to drive and I pulled her into a tight embrace. "You did so good, sweetheart," I mumbled into her hair.
She nodded sadly and I opened the door for her, noticing that the Chief was so full of his concern for Bella that he didn't even register the car. I desperately hoped that this change would get easier for the both of them, though we all knew that eventually she would have to let him go for good.