Howdy beautiful people! This chapter's title comes from the emo-rock banger "What's it Feel Like to Be a Ghost?" by Taking Back Sunday. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter II - What's It Feel Like to Be a Ghost?

Charlie woke her up at the crack of dawn, muttering and bleary-eyed and miffed at the loss of sleep. The slice of burnt toast and thermos of black coffee barely helped, but Charlie's excitement was almost infectious, and by the time they locked the front door she was in higher spirits.

"This is criminal," she told him as she slammed the truck door. "You should arrest yourself for child endangerment. Are you sure the fish are even awake yet?"

Charlie laughed as he started The Thing up. "If they're as ornery as you are in the morning, we'll be feasting tonight. Suckers'll bite anything that moves when they're good and pissed off."

"Harry's making his fish fry?" she asked, her earlier frustration gone in an instant.

"Oh yeah," Charlie said excitedly. "Sue and Emily are already working on sides. I think it's gonna be sort of a bonfire."

"Mmmm," she muttered happily. "Harry's fish fry. I'm glad I let you talk me into this."

Charlie drove at a solid 55 the entire trip, the exact speed limit. She rolled her eyes fondly and rolled her window down. The wind was frigid and clean, but dry. No snow, no rain. It was a good day for fishing, for being outside. Working at Newton's Outfitters had done her some good, if only for outfitting herself for a day in La Push. Her boots were new and warm, her pants thick and comfortable, and her flannel and jacket kept her perfectly toasty even in the chilly clime.

She was surprised to feel actual excitement as they neared the reservation, and as they passed houses and stores, seeing people walking around, waving and smiling, she thought that she'd missed a lot in the past four months. How foolish she felt, thinking that her entire world had to center around one boy and his family. How ridiculous.

Charlie whipped the truck into the Blacks' carport and honked 'shave-and-a-haircut' just as Harry Clearwater pulled up in his '99 Corolla and did the same. She laughed at Charlie and Harry's twin smiles and climbed out of the truck.

"Little Bella!" Harry exclaimed as he got out beside her. "Didn't expect to see you here, kid. How've you been?"

"Doing better, Harry," she said as she hugged him around his sizeable middle. "How's the heart, old man?"

"Still ticking," he laughed. "Oh, here's Billy and Jake."

Bella only recognized Jacob by the long, flowing hair on his head and the goofy grin, as in the five months since she'd last seen him he'd grown by at least a foot.

"Jesus, Jake, what are they feeding you? Growth hormones in the fish?" she laughed.

"Bella!" he yelled, tripping over his feet to reach her. "Oh, man, it's so good to see you! Charlie didn't tell me you were coming."

"Well, yeah," she said, patting the truck beside her. "Someone's gotta take care of The Thing here, and it definitely isn't me."

"So, you're using me for my mechanical know-how."

"You've figured me out, kid."

"Well, let's help the geezers get everything into Harry's car and we can pull her around to the garage."

"Can I help?" a higher voice called from behind Bella. She turned to see another Quileute boy climb out of the car with an incredibly happy face, dark eyes and a wide smile. He was only about an inch or two taller than Bella but looked like he was about to hit a growth spurt.

"Sure, sure," Jake answered. "Seth, this is Bella. Bella, Seth Clearwater."

"Harry's kid?" she asked the boy. She and Jake made good time packing fishing poles and coolers into the Corolla's trunk, stuffing every bit of everything into whatever space they could find. Seth helped eagerly, and Bella took an instant liking to the boy. He was like a sun, shining and warm and bright.

"Yep!" he smiled at her. "Well, one of 'em. But Leah's not here."

"Thank god for that," Jake muttered under his breath as he put the last bag into the trunk and closed it. The trio started walking toward the front door, where the old men were talking and laughing. Charlie had fished a six-pack from some dimensional pocket and was swinging it around as he emphasized his story with his hands.

"Why?" Bella asked Jake. "What's wrong with Leah?"

"She's been a nightmare since Sam broke up with her," Seth informed her.

"Sam?"

"Sam Uley," Jake told her. "He's the one that found you, when – you know…"

"Oh. Right," she coughed awkwardly. "So, what happened?"

"Leah told me Sam cheated on her with Emily. Emily's our cousin," Seth told her sheepishly. "So, it hit Leah real hard. She's been torn up about it, which, you know, that's fine. It's normal, right? But…"

"But she's been lashing out at everyone since then," Jake said coolly. "Nearly knocked Quil out something fierce when he offered to take her out."

"She's getting over a breakup and he tried to ask her on a date?" Bella said incredulously. "Do all teenage boys have cottage cheese where a brain should be?"

Jake looked at her, insulted, but Seth laughed uproariously. He wheezed and wiped a tear from his eye, smiling widely at Bella.

"What's she doing today?" Bella asked as they reached the porch.

"Mom made her stay home and help cook," Seth said. "Said she and Emily were family, and that no boy should come between them."

Bella had words to say about that, but none of them were nice, and with two of the Clearwater clan standing within earshot decided to keep her mouth shut. Sue reminded her often of Renee, someone with more kindness than sense. If her experience was any kind of comparison, Leah would be hurting fiercely, angry, and not at all happy about having to spend any amount of time around the 'other woman', family or not.

Charlie wheeled Billy around the porch and toward the Corolla while Jake and Seth went inside, and Bella was left on the porch with Harry. What was earlier an easy friendliness became a little curdled, something mildly bitter. Harry cleared his throat and spoke.

"Are you really okay, Bella? Charlie's been worried."

"Yeah, Harry, I'm good," she replied, surprised to find it was mostly true. "It took a while, but Charlie and I had a heart-to-heart last night, worked some things out. It hurt, but he was just a boy."

"Well, if it means anything, I'm glad you're safe and happy," he said, and Bella didn't miss the emphasis he put on 'safe', and she took it to mean that Harry knew as well as Billy what the Cullens were. After months of putting up with Billy's veiled words and concerns, not to mention Seth talking about Leah, Bella had little patience for Clearwaters at the moment.

"Harry," she said firmly. "I know what the Cullens are, knew the whole time. I appreciate the tribe being concerned about me, but I was never in any danger with them. Whatever beef you and Billy have with the Cold Ones, the Cullens were never like the rest of them. I'm not some naïve little girl in over my head, I can make my own decisions."

Harry balked at the venom in her voice but nodded his head after a moment. His eyes were narrowed, thoughtful, but before he could speak, his cell phone rang. Bella almost laughed at the deep, liquid tones of Elvis Presley came out, muffled, from his coat pocket.

"Hey, hon," Harry answered. Bella looked on, curious, while Harry's face went from relaxed to concerned to frustrated to dejected in mere seconds. He shook his head as his wife spoke.

"Yeah, I'll take care of it," he said eventually. "Let me tell Charlie and Billy. We'll do Ocean City another day. Yep. Yeah, I know. Love you, too. Bye."

He sighed as he hung up, rubbing his gnarled face with a hand. He looked so old in that moment, so tired. Her heart went out to him.

"Everything okay?" she asked after a few minutes passed.

"It's Leah," Harry sighed. "Again. Sue's been trying to get her to see reason, but she's a bit too much like me, I think. Takes things personally, and hard. That girl…"

"Harry, what's going on?" Charlie asked as he leaped up onto the porch. "We good?"

"Gonna have to take a rain check on Ocean City, boys," Harry said. "Gotta go find my daughter. Sue had her and Emily helping out, but apparently, they've forgotten how to get along. Leah ran out of the house a while ago, isn't answering her phone."

"Why don't I go look for her?" Bella blurted out suddenly, confusing herself. That sensation that she'd felt the day before, that overwhelming feeling of rightness, was back. Telling her that finding Leah was the right thing to do. She nodded her head again, looked up at Harry.

"Yeah, I'll do it," she said. "You three go ahead, I'll find Leah and make sure she's alright. I'll call when I do."

"Are you sure, Bella?" Harry asked.

"Yeah," she lied. "I mean, the rez isn't that big. Won't take me long. And Leah probably needs someone to talk to that isn't her mom or the girl her ex cheated with."

Harry winced at that but nodded. "Okay. Yeah, if you're sure, I'd be grateful. I'll let Sue know."

"What about Jake?" Charlie asked her.

"Seth's here with him," she replied. "And Jake's a big boy, he'll be fine. He doesn't need a babysitter."

It took a little while, some bickering and arguing, but eventually Bella got all three into Harry's car and off to go fish. She yelled into the house, telling Jake and Seth she'd be back later, and ran over to her truck.

Not until she'd left the house, The Thing sputtering and roaring around the reservation, eyes peeled for the sight of a lone woman roaming around, did she stop to think about what she'd done. She had no experience counseling other people through difficult times, no words of wisdom or comfort for Leah Clearwater. Hell, she didn't even know Leah Clearwater. That threw her off.

She didn't know what Leah even looked like. What the hell had she gotten herself into? She wondered how stupid she looked, driving aimlessly around, windows down and eyes anywhere but on the road. After fifteen minutes, she decided to head to First Beach and scope the area. It'd been almost year since the last time she'd visited the place where she'd first learned of the Cullens and the treaty with the Quileute tribe, and it looked exactly the same. Dark, cold sand, driftwood piles everywhere, freezing waves crashing into the shore. She shut off the truck and sighed heavily, laid her head on the steering wheel.

So much had changed in so short a time. The past twelve months had been nothing short of an emotional hurricane, ripping up everything she thought she knew, everything about her life and her world, and threw it every which way. The Cullens had displaced her, she realized, from normalcy. Just knowing that they existed, that the world wasn't the black and white place she'd imagined it to be, made her feel oddly out of place. For the very first time, she wished she had never set eyes upon Edward Cullen.

A sharp knock on the side of her truck snapped her out of her thoughts, and she whipped her head up at the sound. Brown eyes met black ones, and Bella stopped thinking altogether.

"Hey man, you alright?"

A/N: Please, R&R! I want to know what you think, even if it's to tell me that my writing is stale and derivative. I love you.