Disclaimer: This story is based off of the characters written by Stephanie Meyer in the Twilight Saga. I do not own any of these characters.

Bella

Emmett came barreling through the trees, two wolves on his trail. Rosalie and I stood on alert as Emmett halted on the lawn with one of the wolves while the other shifted inside the tree line.

"Any news?" Rosalie asked.

By the look on Emmett's face it didn't seem that he'd gotten very far with them. "No," he grumbled, "I wish Edward was here to translate." He nodded his head to the trees. "They wouldn't shift to tell me what the hell was going on."

Sam came through the trees then and I froze as he approached.

"You're sure it was Charlie?" His eyes were on me. I nodded. "Do you mind?" He asked tilting his head to the house, I gestured behind me and he ran up to scope things out for himself. It took him a little longer than it had taken Rosalie and Emmett but he was going through the areas where Charlie's scent lingered.

After a few moments he came back out and looked to the wolf, which I assumed must have been Paul as I recognized the others by now.

"It was definitely Charlie, make sure Embry gets the message to Jake ASAP." Paul huffed and turned to go sit by the tree line, still in sight but as far away from us as he could be. Sam watched him go, a hint of irritation on his face. After a moment he turned back to me.

"It looks like Charlie hasn't given up the search. He's stopped all search parties, but we discovered that he's been calling several hospitals near where Carlisle was supposed to relocate and none of them have heard of him. I'm not sure what he thinks he'll find but I think he might lose it if he doesn't get in contact with Carlisle soon." Rosalie and Emmett shared a look before Rosalie disappeared inside.

Sam and I stared at each other for a long time.

"You know it's not fair what Charlie's going through." Sam's voice was less than friendly, I knew that he'd been the one to take me back to Charlie when Edward left, I'm sure this whole ordeal wasn't bringing back the fondest memories.

"You say that like I made this choice." I could see his jaw set tighter.

"At the very least I don't see why you need to be in the area. It's making things far more complicated." Paul growled in agreement.

I didn't respond. I'd know for a while it made more sense for me to leave Forks. But I wasn't ready to leave Charlie, I wanted to make sure he was okay before I took off. Sam didn't push the topic any farther, and I could hear Rosalie on the phone with who I assumed was Carlisle.

As she explained what was going on I watched Sam, "Has he been up to anything else?" He eyed me for a moment and his shoulders sagged.

"I don't know, we've been with him a lot but even we weren't aware of the background detective work he was doing."

I momentarily panicked as I wondered what would happen if he dug too deep when looking for the Cullens. How good were their tracks covered? If he looked too far back would he put things together that we couldn't have him putting together?

"Try not to worry too much, Bella." Emmett called from the door, "We've dealt with worse." Our eyes met and he nodded in reassurance. After a few moments Rosalie came back outside.

"Carlisle will be giving Charlie a call, he'll explain that he ended up not taking the transfer there, and tell him where we ended up instead." She looked from me to Sam, and then back to me. "Carlisle thinks the best course of action is for the family to come back until the service." My stomach flipped over and I could tell she saw my panicked response so she continued with his explanation.

"He thinks that Charlie is assuming you ran off with Edward, I know it's a long shot but stranger things have happened. Carlisle said the option is there for just he and Esme to come help ease the tension, but if we want to eliminate any suspicion, the others would need to be here as well," she paused for a long moment, "Edward included."

I stared at her blankly, I heard Paul's grumbles as Sam began to speak with Rosalie and Emmett, but it all felt very far away. Emmett and Rosalie were watching me and suddenly I found myself sitting on the grass. I'd thought it would have been years before I had to face Edward again. I thought I'd be able to grieve my life and begin a new one before I had to look him in the eye. My head spun with all the emotions thinking of him brought forth, a ghost of the feelings of when he left washed over me and I found myself shivering.

I wasn't sure how long I was sitting there, but when I looked up it was only Rosalie and Emmett with me.

"Sam and Paul went to go speak with Jake, and make a plan for keeping closer eyes on Charlie so he doesn't end up here again." Rosalie leaned down and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "We can make it work with just Carlisle and Esme." I shook my head.

"No, Carlisle is right. It needs to be everyone." My voice was soft but I forced it to stay strong. As much as I didn't want to deal with these feelings now, Charlie dropping this and moving on was more important. Rosalie watched me for a moment.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course she's sure, Bella's a badass remember." Emmett said, he grabbed me by the hand and yanked me to my feet. I gave him a small smile.

"I sure am." I said, and he punched my shoulder.

Rosalie looked between the two of us with and shook her head with a slight grin, "I'll call Carlisle back then."

"Actually," I reached for her arm, "Do you mind if I do it?"

...

Rosalie dialed the number and handed the phone to me, after two rings it picked up.

"Hello," Carlisle's voice rang through the speaker.

"Hi Carlisle, how are you?" There was a small pause as he registered my voice.

"I"m good Bella, how are you?" His voice was kind, gentle.

"I"m doing okay, worried about Charlie and your family. I know it hasn't been long but have you been able to speak with him yet?"

"I have, I let him know that we ended up going to New York rather than California but a friend of mine down there had called letting me know Charlie was looking for me. I also told him that we were visiting family in Denali and with hearing the news would like to offer help with anything he'd need. He seemed to take that information well, and I let him know we would be back in town in a few days as we still own the house in Forks." I was nodding, this was most of what Rosalie had told me, and I was pleased to find that Charlie had accepted Carlisle's words. This would at least help keep him away form the house until they were back.

"I'm glad to hear he was receptive, and I wanted to let you know that I've decided you were right. I think it would be best for the whole family to come back to eliminate any reason for suspicion. I don't want Charlie to continue any farther investigation. That is a dangerous game, and I don't want to risk the life you've built for yourself and your family, or drive Charlie insane any more than him losing me has."

Carlisle was quiet for a long moment, "Bella, I want you to know none of us want to push you into something you're not ready to face. There are other options, especially being that Charlie took the news so well. Not all of us need to come if you're not ready for that."

"I wasn't ready for any of this, but I've been managing. I think it's for the best that we see to this thoroughly so that this can be laid to rest soon. We need to get him through a service and let him see closure, that's the only way this will end."

Rosalie touched a hand on my shoulder and I gave her a soft smile, I was okay and I hoped she saw that.

"You are a very strong young woman." Carlisle said finally, "We'll be there Wednesday, I look forward to seeing you."

"I look forward to seeing you too, Carlisle."

The sound of a motorcycle approaching perked my ears. Rosalie was upstairs and Emmett was with me on the couch watching TV. He eyed me for a moment wondering why I wasn't more startled. Rosalie bolted downstairs and was at Emmett's side, also watching me. I shook my head as I focused my hearing on the approaching sound. Through the rumble of the engine I heard Jacob's quick heartbeat.

Emmett and Rosalie looked between each other and back at me as the engine cut and Jacob's long strides bound across the lawn. He paused and knocked on the front door. When I didn't respond, Emmett did.

"Come in," he hollered, not bothering getting up. Rosalie's eyes stayed on me for a moment longer, then as the door opened she darted back upstairs.

"I brought you your motorcycle." Jake said as he approached and took a seat across from me. I caught the amused look on Emmett's face.

"You have a motorcycle?" He asked, surprise evident in his voice.

"Yeah, Jake fixed it up for me and taught me to ride." I said, Emmett looked at Jake to confirm.

"I tried teaching her to ride, she wasn't very good at it." Jake teased, Emmett and him shared a laugh. "I'm sure she'd be much better now though, which is why I brought it back for her."

"Thanks, Jake."

"Do you build cars too?" Emmett asked.

"Sure, I got my Rabbit running in February - and then I shifted into a wolf and haven't really needed it since." His lips pressed together in a distasteful smile. Emmett was nodding.

"Too bad Rosalie's M3 is in New York, the two of you could have bonded." Rosalie let out a hiss from the top of the stairs.

"I wouldn't let his filthy paws anywhere near my baby." She chided, visually offended at the suggestion. Emmett held up his hands.

"I meant you could gush about your car crap together." He gave me a wide eyed look before his eyes met Rosalie's again, "You don't even let me touch that car, I'd be personally offended if you let the wolf work on her."

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and walked over to perch on the arm rest next to him.

"I didn't take you to be the type to get your hands dirty." Jake said, resting his head on his fist lazily. Her eyes narrowed.

"Oh? And why's that?" Jake eyed her up and down.

"Because you look like a Barbie." He shrugged. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

"So what was the purpose of your visit jorts-boy?" I couldn't help my smile, even Jake cracked a little at the comment.

"They're convenient." He said in a mock pointed tone before he turned his attention on me, "Sam said you'd spoken with Carlisle about them coming back into town and I wanted to be filled in on what the plan was."

I sighed, "The entire family will be here Wednesday." I didn't meet his eyes as I spoke.

"The entire family?" He seemed surprised.

"Yes," I paused, "Even Edward." I could hear the muscles in Jake's jaw flex.

"I'm sorry, Bella. I should have been keeping a better eye on Charlie." I shook my head at him.

"None of this is your fault, I should have expected something like this. In all honesty I did - I just thought Renee would be the one to suspect me running away not Charlie."

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

"Eventually." Our eyes met and after a second he nodded and turned to Rosalie.

"The new terms of the treaty are still in place even with the new developments?" He asked Rosalie. She nodded, and he looked back to me. "I better go then, I'll need to let the council know what's going on. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"See you tomorrow, Jake."