Hey guys, thanks so much for the reviews :)

I'm planning to stick to a weekly update schedule

- lemme know what you think of this one!

Six months later…

Four pairs of dark eyes stared as I tried my best to focus on what was being said on the speaker pressed against my ear. Despite looking up all there had been to look up, and listening to way too much advice, it all sounded like utter nonsense. The situation wasn't helped by the ghoulish look on Sue Clearwater's face either.

"Can you repeat that?" I asked sheepishly. Leah snorted

"They're offering two-hundred," Mrs. Stanley anunciated to the nth degree, her high-pitched voice railing through my focus and once again rendering me stupid. "It is still below market value, but it is the best one we've snagged so far. I'm thinking that-"

Heat crept up my neck as my ex-friend's mother kept blabbing on. Was it enough for what I was losing? As soon as I'd overcome the shock of Charlie being gone, the realization that there was nothing of him left haunted me. Because I had destroyed it all. Again. Now it felt like the ultimate betrayal to sell his home, but it was the only way to cut my ties to Forks and have the revenue to leave LaPush. To get everyone out of harm's way.

"Bella?"

I jumped when Sue put her hand on my shoulder and gently pried the cellphone out of my shaking hand. Mrs. Stanley's voice could still be heard as Sue took over the conversation and controlled the situation on my behalf.

A service that she had performing with grace and aplomb for the last six months.

Chaos reigned in Billy Black's living room. All the lights were shining despite the bright sunshine coming through the windows, but it was difficult to focus my gaze on anything but the cuts on my hands. Why had he brought me here?

There was nothing to stop Victoria from killing us all, and Billy, Harry, and Sue didn't deserve that. No one did.

Paul Lahote was ruining my plans. He leaned against the door with his arms crossed as if he somehow knew that escape was the first and only thing on my mind. Which was most likely obvious from the fact that not even once had I looked at the yelling Billy or crying Sue. They were worried.

Pain sliced through as Sue brought out a first-aid kit and began cleaning up the bloody mess that were my arms, hands and feet. She spoke in low soothing tones which I didn't bother to decipher. But I couldn't stop the tears going down my cheeks.

My mother had never taken care of me like this.

And so, after Paul found me, I had spent the last half year living with the Clearwaters against my will. And by against my will, I mean that every time I tried to leave the Rez, He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named dragged me back. Maybe next time I should point out that I'm an adult and the Clearwaters weren't my godparents in any legal capacity, but no matter how hard I tried, the words wouldn't leave my mouth.

Because all of the mysterious deaths had stopped with Charlie, maybe I was being foolishly hopeful.

Seth poked my arm, startling me out of my brooding, and smiled as he waved his fork over a plate full of eggs, bacon, and french toast which Harry had cooked up for everyone. Family Saturday breakfasts had taken time to get used to, but my father's friend was an amazing chief when Sue allowed him in her kitchen. Which was on Saturdays only.

"She agreed to hold out for a bit more," Sue settled down next to Leah and smiled at me. "I recall your parents putting more than that down and Charlie always kept good care of everything. It won't hurt to wait."

A tiny part of me rejoiced at her decision. "Thank you."

Only a few companionable moments of silence passed before Leah broke it. "There's a bonfire tonight. Maybe me and Bella could go? It's been ages since she has been outside the house."

I was about to object, to tell them that I preferred to be inside holed up in Leah's (and my) bedroom, but Leah glanced at me with a cold look. She was a moody person to the extreme — which was different from how I remembered her when we were little — and it was probably best to not make her too angry. Her parents gave her little enough space as it was.

Hell, maybe it would make us get along better if we went to a party together.

Sue exchanged a look with Harry before nodding. "It would be good for you girls to socialize. Just don't be out too late — you know I can't sleep until everyone is safe in bed."

We both agreed and Leah stood up to clear her plate. I tried to smother my worries with more syrup. For better or worse, I was leaving the house tonight.

"God, you're short." Leah groaned as she held her skirt against my waist for measure. "If we were going to a real party, we'd have to shop."

I nearly fell over the blowup mattress on the ground. "Real party?"

She avoided eye contact. "Alone time would be real fucking awesome right now, and First Beach is too busy during the day. So we," she tossed a tank top on the bed, "are walking out of here cute and excited, and then you can go hang out with Jacob or something."

"While you are at the beach? Alone?"

"That would be the idea."

"You are an adult, you know." I pointed out.

Leah sighed, her beautiful face twisting in rare vulnerability. "They've been worried about me lately. And I can't blame them for it. I… I know that I should be over him, but it's not easy. There is so much pressure in my head and it feels like something just awful is going to happen. It's crushing me, Bella, and I'm sorry to ask this of you but can you please just go along with tonight?"

Wordlessly, I stared up at the tall girl. She was telling the truth. And it cheered me up in an odd way. For the first time in months, someone was confiding in me about their problems rather than treating me like I was made of glass. So I nodded and went back to trying to match shoes. She sagged in relief.

After slapping some makeup on, we shimmied into the beach-esque outfits and said goodbye to the rest of the family. Summer cool air hugged our bodies, and I shivered while a blank-faced Leah looked unphased. Patting me on the shoulder after we were out of view from the house, she walked off towards the beach.

Which left me alone.

Where could I go for a few hours? Jacob was always busy with shifts (whatever that meant) from Sam Uley's gang at this time of night, and it was awkward and sad to be alone with Billy. We both missed Charlie a lot, and he knew that I was the reason he died. He had pulled me aside and reassured me that that wasn't how he felt, but some things took time to heal.

Wrapping myself tighter in my jacket to protect from the breeze, I decided that walking around the Rez to figure out my options couldn't hurt anything. Through Seth and Jake's encouragement, it was a familiar venture that would kill at least an hour. If anything, I could sit on a bench near the diner and relax.

It was right when my foot caught the sidewalk that my luck caught up to me.

A warm hand caught my elbow, saving me from my face catching concrete. "Trying to run again? Geez, you really aren't the brightest." Hot breath warmed my ear.

My cheeks flamed up. "Would you quit stalking me?"

Paul released my elbow which allowed me to turn around and glare up. He was glaring preemptively back, his lip curling into a scowl that would make Leah proud. "Wish I could."

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows. "What's stopping you?" I tapped my chin and pretended to think. "Oh yeah! You're another one of Sam's goons."

He growled. "I am not a goon."

"That sounds exactly like something a goon would say."

His thick muscles flexed underneath his t-shirt, distracting me from whatever look he was giving me. I'd never noticed before because of trying to escape and all, but he was huge. Jacob was probably taller (why were they all so freakishly large?), but Paul looked more honed to knock skulls together. But maybe that was his aggression messing with my head?

Trying to figure the logistics of his build, it was easy to forget that I was staring at his chest.

"My eyes are up here, you know." He sounded amused.

I blushed. Again.

The guy examined me like I was some kind of alien. "This is the first time that you don't look like somebody's about to kill you. You hit your head or something?"

He had a point. "I'm not sure." I frowned.

He rolled his eyes before taking me by the elbow, which was his preferred method of transporting me. And began walking without looking at me. Like he always did before giving me back to Sue and Harry.

Which I couldn't allow or else Leah's plans would be ruined. "Wait!"

He froze, let me go, and crossed his arms. "Okay, now I know something's the matter, you almost never not mutter. What happened? Where's the little mess of a chick that I normally have to drag back?"

Anger hit me in a sudden fog, making everything feel surreal and out of touch. "My father is dead." Each word sludged out of my mouth, but it was the first time I had said them out loud.

Paul's face grew cold before he shrugged. "So? So's mine. You don't see me acting like a lunatic."

The insult stung. "It's different."

"It isn't all about you. Life has crazy coincidences, and that damn forest has way too many for anyone to be thinking it's for a reason."

Those rumbling words cut through everything. The laughter from the restaurant across the street, the buzzing of flies around the street lamp above us, even the sight of Paul's face, serious and uncharacteristically earnest, cut out into meaningless noise. I could only see Jake that night in the theatre, his hands shaking before he left me. Something he would never do. Something I'd tried to forget ever since he'd shown back up on the Clearwaters' door with a changed physique and vague apology.

Sam Uley's gang. Him finding me that night surrounded by so many trees, so many miles away from my home. Barefoot and half-naked as if it hadn't been below freezing. The air had hurt with every breath, ice rising in the air, eyes the color of topaz staring at me in the distance…

"Bella?" Paul sounded worried, but far away.

Until he touched my shoulder. So hot. He shouldn't have been standing there with such a high fever. He should've been in the hospital, nurses and doctors frantic to save what organ function they could.

And he had found me in the woods too. Half-naked. And guess what? No shoes on his goddamn feet. Just as huge and inhuman as Sam. As Jacob.

Too many coincidences.

I took a step backward and created distance between me and Paul. He was right. It had never been about me. Victoria had been hungry that night and had grabbed the closest human for a snack. That he had been my father was a coincidence. She wanted to torture Edward, not me. Laurent had told me that much in that godforsaken meadow.

Spotting the supernatural came natural to me. Or so I thought. But my best friend being some kind of monster right under my nose?

The worst part was that I wasn't terrified of the idea. It was calling to me. The curiosity, the intrigue of knowing something greater than myself. Stronger. Maybe I could forget what happened to the weak.

It was sick to admit, but a part of me had truly worshipped the Cullens and their immortality.

I couldn't keep living with myself if I kept making the same mistakes over and over. Even at that moment, Paul drew me into his world. Subconsciously, I had always looked forward to him dragging me back for the last six months. Dreamed about his arms around me after the nightmares ran dry. And it hadn't been just because he was a cute guy like I'd been telling myself. It was because of the sick part of me which had drawn death and vampires upon Forks.

"I'll walk myself back." Every emotion that I had let escape before was locked in again.

Paul looked sorry and oblivious to the life-changing advice that he had gifted me with. He nodded and walked away before I could.

Huh. Guess my taste in guys really hadn't changed all that much.