AN: This is the intro. Super long, I know, but I felt it deserved some attention. Also my first story so please review and let me know what you think! Thanks!

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Renée hadn't missed the snow, or the rain. Finding herself back in Forks, Washington after so many years of being gone had her feeling oddly nostalgic. The overbearing trees that plagued her for so many years were still there, the clouds overhead. It was drizzling when her plane landed and she knew it wouldn't stop for a long while.

Being under the sunshine made her feel free, but something about this dreary town that she hated so much as a child made her feel home. The woman wrinkled her nose at the thought while she collected her bags. The two teenagers behind her did the same.

None of them were actually dressed for the cold. The jacket she bought back in Phoenix wasn't enough to fight off the chill that seeped into her bones, and her pants felt too thin. She was hoping that there were at least a few more stores there where she could buy a few things, but Renée wasn't going to hold her breath.

The cop car waiting to meet them outside was the same one she'd known before. There were still dents in the back from the time Charlie let her drive and she backed it into a mailbox. The paint was flaking off, though, and there were differences that Renée could point out if she looked long enough.

The man behind the wheel looked up the moment she stepped outside and met her eyes. She could see there were a few more wrinkles, laugh lines, some scruff he probably didn't have time to shave. He was thinner, too, and Renée found herself wondering not for the first time if he was eating well. If he was overworked.

Charlie Swan's smile had always been slow to grow. It changed his entire face, bringing a lightness to him that none would expect just by looking at him. She forgot that he was handsome like this, that his pictures don't do him any justice. He was smiling at her and walking. He left his car door open- Renée remembered always having to fight him about that- and headed straight for the trio of girls.

Opening her arms, Renée accepted the man in a hug before her youngest did the same. He reached his arm out and touched Bella's shoulder and she smiled, small and unsure, back. They were so much alike, Renée thought. So steady, quiet, and never quite comfortable with the affection others showered them with.

"Hey," Charlie said. He was still smiling.

Slowly, just as slowly as Charlie always had, Renée smiled back. "Hey."

-

Sara Swan changed things.

When she was born it was an accident. Renée was recovering from a divorce and unused to being on her own. She was a new mom and she was a person and the woman was having a hard time finding her balance. So when Renée met Sara's dad it was with the intention of never seeing him again.

On October 25th, 13 months after having her first daughter, Renée welcomed Sara into the world and filled her with a love as bright as the sun.

As a single mom with two babies, her life completely turned around. Charlie was the first person to hear the news and listened to her as she cried, listened to her insecurities and how she wasn't sure she could do this. Even after leaving him, he had been her best friend for so long before. She didn't have anyone else to call.

When Sara was born Charlie was the first one allowed in the room. The doctor's, before the little girl's birth, had assumed that Charlie was the father. Her complexion, even wet and pinkened by her screaming, was too dark to mistake for his child. Still, when the doctors were filling out the Birth Certificate, Charlie held the newborn in his arms and made sure they knew he was responsible for her.

He stayed while Renée tried to turn the bedroom at her mom's house into a nursery. Her bed itself was twin sized, a crib for Bella next to it and a new crib for Sara across. It would have to work until she could afford a home of her own.

He left after she was settled and she was alone with two girls who babbled and smiled and filled her up.

Sara watched the world as time passed until she could walk, then she explored.

The youngest Swan was sure that Bella was the easier child. Bella had her tantrums like all children do, but she listened well and took the rules seriously. Most of the time she was content in their mom's lap while she read to them, or napping. She'd eat whatever was put in front of her and was distracted just fine by toys.

It was hard to be an easy child when being a child was so boring.

If Sara didn't remember the life before, maybe she would have been just as normal and calm as Bella. Every emotion flooded her tiny body. Frustration always led to heavy tears and uncontrollable fits. Sadness had her sobbing in someone's, anyone's, shirt until she was too tired to go on. Happiness made her scream with delight. What she wanted, she needed. Everything either made her day or was the end of the world.

When she was bored, everyone knew.

So, she kept herself busy. The toys that her mom and grandma gave her were good to slam around a bit while she thought, when she couldn't walk. She was messy and talkative and took up so much space. Bella was easily dragged along, a little shy but forever curious and totally in love.

When they started school, they both cried. Bella from the separation and Sara because she wouldn't be able to do anything anymore. She didn't want to be around other kids, she didn't want to have to listen to some adult she didn't know, and she most certainly didn't want to be stuck sitting down.

Renée talked to Charlie almost every day after they started. Bella slowly became more used to the idea of not being around her family, but Sara seemed to have behavioral issues that Renée didn't understand. At home Sara was her free spirited little angel.

It wasn't until Bella was in 3rd grade and Sara in 2nd that a teacher approached her about the possibility of Sara being bored with the material. She suggested an IQ test and placement testing, just to see if that was the reason for Sara's issues. If Renée allowed it, Sara would have tested into the 5th grade. The only issue for her sweet girl had been history and more complicated math.

Often, Renée found herself thinking about the man she slept with that night and if he was also gifted. If he would maybe understand her daughter in a way that Renée and Charlie couldn't. Only in the quiet of her mind would Renée admit that she didn't know what to do with a daughter like that.

Bella's tests were normal. Above average, but still normal for a smart child. She would grow like everyone else, mature at the same time, and would hopefully never need the therapy that counselors and teachers were telling her she should put Sara into. Just because her youngest couldn't adjust or fit in with her peers, or find understanding.

Renée only let Sara be moved up a year and insisted that the teachers not treat her any differently.

At least with Bella, her youngest knew how to stay calm. Bella was grounded in the same way that her father was. The older she got the more responsibility she tried to take on, mostly with her baby sister. She didn't understand why people called Sara weird or why she had to move up into Bella's class. All she knew was that she was the big sister and she would take care of Sara no matter what.

-

So much was different by the time that Sara Swan was born that, even if she had wanted to avoid changing too much, that change was inevitable.

By the color of her skin and the wildness of her hair Sara knew that she wasn't actually Charlie's, but he was dad. He visited when she started children's jiu jitsu classes. He also came to the tournaments to sit in the crowd with Bella and mom to cheer for her. And he was always a phone call away. Sara liked to call him. He listened to everything she told him without interrupting and didn't mind when she suddenly changed her mind about what she wanted.

It was when Bella was 15 and Sara was 14 that their mom felt like she could steady herself. She was flighty still, changed her mind often about small things, but she was a woman. She knew who she was and where she stood, and that apparently led the trio to Forks, Washington, where their dad and the rain awaited them.

Sara grinned and turned her head upwards to the rain lightly hitting her face while her dad moved around their luggage to fit in his car.

If her family was happy, she could be happy anywhere.