Assumptions Chapter 3

Charlie's Real Family

I stood there in the kitchen staring at the door that Edward Cullen just stormed out of, raging beyond belief. Who the hell was he to be so judgmental? That man didn't know the first thing about me or my relationship with Charlie. Or lack thereof as it were.

I wandered into the living room and threw myself down on the sofa and started flipping through the channels. It was getting to be close to dawn now and I knew that I needed to get some sleep, but I just couldn't seem to turn my brain off enough. At least Charlie had cable and plenty of channel s so that I had a wide variety of infomercials to choose from.

I must have eventually fallen asleep while watching an infomercial for this sandwich maker because I was woken by a knocking on my door. I dragged myself to the door and flung it open, only to find myself face to face with an amazingly beautiful blonde.

"Hi! I'm Rose Cullen. Emmett said that you'd made it to town this morning. I thought I'd bring you breakfast and make sure that you are ok after your accident with Michael."

"Uh…sure…" I stepped back to let the woman in.

"How are you related to Emmett and Edward?"

"Emmett's my husband and this is our daughter, Bree." I hadn't noticed the little blonde child that was the spitting image of her mother attached to her legs. I led them into the kitchen where Rose placed a casserole dish in the oven, "It should only take a few minutes to warm up this up. "

Bree immediately ran out to the living room. I heard a drawer open and close and she returned seconds later with a coloring book and crayons. "How did she know that those were in there?" Why those were in there were was a question that I was asking myself internally.

"Charlie always keeps a coloring book there for her. We're here every Sunday to watch games with him."

"We?"

"Emmett, Bree, Edward, and I. Sometimes Carlisle and Esme come with us." I nodded my head. I didn't know what to say to that. "Edward is here more than we are though." She rattled off as she got up and got some glasses out of the cabinet and a bottle of juice out of the fridge. She poured four glasses and carried them back to the table. I raised my eyebrow at her and she just smiled at me, "Emmett is going to join us in a couple of minutes when his shift is over. "

"It must suck to have him working all night."

"It does, but it doesn't happen all the time. They always rotate."

"Is he going to go for Charlie's job now?"

"I think so. He keeps going back and forth on it. I don't know who else would run or has the experience around here."

"Honey! I'm home!" We heard Emmett yell from the living room. Bree ran off to her dad as Rose rolled her eyes and got up to get our breakfast out of the oven. Emmett looked exhausted when he walked into the kitchen carrying Bree and sat down at the table.

"Smells great, baby."

"I helped daddy!"

"You did?"

"I tored up the asants!" Emmett and I both looked to Rose to tell us what 'asants were.

"Croissants. I use croissants as the bread in my strata."

"Really? I never thought of doing that. I usually use French bread."

"I used to, but found the croissants give it a richer, more buttery taste." I started to get up to help her plate the food but she waved me off, "Stay where you are. I know my way around this kitchen better than Charlie ever did."

I remembered a time when I was a teenager and cooking dinners for Charlie and me, hoping for once that he'd be happy with my effort and stay and eat with me, but every time he'd grab his plate and take it with him to the living room to eat while he watch some stupid game.

"I keep expecting him to walk in that door," Rose sighed as she sat down.

"I know. The guys and I were just talking about that this morning at shift change. It's like he's still there but you just can't find him." Rose leaned over and wrapped her arms around her husband and I realized that both of them were crying. We ate our breakfast in silence. I told Rose to just leave the dishes in the sink I would get them since she brought breakfast. She nodded and told her daughter to go sit in Papa Charlie's chair while the grownups talked about boring things." Papa Charlie? Really? The man barely even cared that I called him Charlie instead of Dad but their kid called him grandpa. Unbelievable.

We sat there for a few minutes before I finally asked, "How did it happen?"

"There was a robbery going down at the gas station. Charlie was in his car on his way back from a different call when that one came in. He got there first. You know, we have our drug problems like every other town does." Emmett took a deep breath, "The kid was high on meth. I pulled into the parking lot just as the gun went off. I'll never forget that moment; the sound of the gun or Charlie collapsing. We stormed in while Felix stood there looking between the gun and Charlie. A couple of guys cuffed Felix while I went to help Charlie. But there was nothing that could be done. He was shot in the chest and there was so much blood. I had never seen so much blood before. Felix was crying and repeating "I didn't mean to do it' over and over until I finally had to tell him to shut up so I could hear what Charlie was saying to me. Charlie was gone before the bus got there."

I realized that I had tears streaming down my face and I wiped them away before I asked my next question, "Where is this Felix now?"

"I have him being held in a youth detention center in Port Angeles. Fork's doesn't have the capabilities or procedures to house a detained minor on a long term basis."

"Minor? How old is he?"

"15. Almost 16."

"Wow. He's just so young."

"Yeah."

"Is he being tried as an adult or a juvenile?"

"Don't know yet. The prosecutor is pushing for him to be tried as an adult but that decision has to come from a judge."

We sat in silence once again before Rose told Emmett that he needed to go home to get some sleep. "Bella," She continued while looking at me, "I know you don't know me or anything, but I am familiar with the area and Charlie meant a lot to me and Emmett, and I would really like it if you'd let me help you plan the funeral."

I looked at her in surprise. She was right, I didn't know her and I usually didn't let strangers near me but I recognized that I was definitely going to need help and she had yet to even mention my writing career so I decided to give her a chance, "I would be grateful for the help. Thank you."

An half an hour later I came back downstairs from a much needed shower to find Rose and another woman cleaning the kitchen, even though I told her not to worry about it. I turned to head into the kitchen when I reached the bottom of the stairs but heard Emmett bellow, "Hey Bella! Come here!" I turned to the living room instead and found Emmett talking to a blond man that I actually did recognize. I would know Dr. Cullen anywhere. I had seen him in the ER almost every time that I visited Charlie.

Dr. Cullen marched over to me, "Emmett told me what happened with Michael Newton. Do you have any pain in your neck, back, or stomach?" He asked, instantly going into doctor mode.

"I'm fine. I promise."

"If you do start to experience any pain, do not hesitate to call me. Rose or Emmett can give you my number. Now, how are you holding up with all of this? I know from experience how hard it is when a parent dies."

"I really don't think it has really sunk in yet."

"Yeah, I remember feeling like that for a while after my dad passed away." He sighed and then turned to the little girl that was hanging from her father's arm, "Bree, tell your mom and grandma goodbye and we'll hit the road." The little girl ran off to the kitchen and returned a couple minutes later followed by Rose and the woman that I now recognized as being Dr. Cullen's wife, Esme.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry about Charlie," She started crying as she pulled me into a hug. "I hope you don't mind that I invited myself along as you and Rose run errands and make arrangements today."

"No. It's fine, Mrs. Cullen." I didn't know what else to say without outright offending these people which I definitely did not want to do. These people seemed to be very close to Charlie and honestly grieving the loss of him from their lives.

"Please call me Esme. My, you turned into such a beautiful woman, "she cooed at me making me blush. Emmett followed Carlisle and Bree out the door to help him wrestle her into her car seat.

"We should get going," Rose said grabbing her purse off the table by the couch. Esme and I agreed and followed her out the door. I almost started laughing when I indeed found Emmett wrestling the four year girl into a car seat. Rose rolled her eyes and yelled out to Bree to behave. And she did. Immediately. I also noticed that it was the only car in the driveway.

"Uh. How did you all get here?"

"Ma rode with Carlisle, obviously, and Bree and I walked. We live just across the street." That explained why they were here all the time. "I don't think that we are all going to fit into your truck so we'll have to take mine." Right, the truck that Charlie supposedly bought me and never told me about. I was going to have to check out this phantom truck soon. But right now I followed Rose and Esme across the street and hopped into the back of a huge tan Escalade.

I was quiet on the ride to the funeral home, which took up its own block on Main Street, just listening to Rose and Esme chatter in the front seats. We were greeted by an older gentleman as we walked in the doors. Esme greeted the man with a hug before we were led into a room that had coffins and urns displayed for us to view and choose from like some demented showroom of death.

It all became too much for me when they started talking about wood versus metal and what Charlie would have wanted. It was when they started in on needing to get Charlie's dress blues ready for the viewing that a pounding started in my head and I spun around, searching for a chair to sit in but there was none in this room. My knees buckled and I felt myself heading for the floor. I immediately felt arms wrap around me and Esme's voice in my ear telling me to just breathe. When I was calmer and more aware of my surroundings, I saw Rose kneeling in front of me holding a box of Kleenex out to me. I hadn't even realized that I was crying and I had no idea why I was. I had practically no relationship with Charlie so I had no idea why I was crying. I pulled myself together and excused myself to the bathroom to freshen up.

Once I was presentable again I returned to the showroom of death. As I was approaching the door I could hear Rose, Esme, and the old guy, Mr. Trumble, reminiscing about Charlie. The realizations I had next almost sent me into another panic attack. These people were his family and Charlie had loved and cared about them. These were people that he enjoyed spending time with and went out of his way for. It was just me that he didn't want around. It was just me that he didn't like. These people were his real family; I was just an imposter that didn't belong here.

A/N:

I am so sorry that this is late but I really thought that I wasn't going to be able to get it posted until next weekend, so I guess one day late is better than a whole week. Right? So the next chapter is done and off to Sweetpea123, my awesome beta. If you don't want a teaser with your review reply tell me in your review. Thanks for reading!