Chapter 3
The Whole Truth

(Charlie's POV)

I sat on the couch after Carlisle and Edward had went outside. My hearing may not be all that great, but I could hear the sound of a car door slam, so I assumed that someone had arrived that the two of them wanted to talk to alone first. Bella and Alice still sat around me, and Jasper was in the far corner of the room. Something on his face suggested guilt. I was still trying to figure out why Bella snapped at him the way she did.

Bella held on to me really tightly, almost as if she never wanted to let go for fear that I die the instant she let me go. Alice had her arm around Bella to offer her support. I knew that those two saw each other as sisters since my baby girl met Edward, and it made me feel great that she found a great girl friend who was kind of a kindred spirit.

The talking outside was turning louder. I could hear what sounded like Edward's voice almost shouting now. I wondered why he was getting upset like he was. I was the one who was dying; there was no reason for him to be mad at anyone that was outside.

Bella was holding me even closer, and dry crying was coming from her. It felt weird; to have her sobbing on my shoulder without any tears touching my skin, but I thought that was what Alice was there for. I wanted nothing more for this to not have to end, but Alice jumped up about another minute later.

My glance turned to Alice who looked scared about something. This wasn't normal for her, since every time I saw her she always had a smile on her face. Something was happening outside that scared her, and she ran outside to see what was going on. I also wiggled my way out of Bella's arms and went outside to see what was going on.

When I got outside, I saw Edward in an all-out argument with his mother. The first words I heard were from Edward, "Volturi find out! If we're lucky, they'll just kill him." I knew that I had missed something.

Esme was too calm for the argument. She looked stoic, almost statuesque not moving a muscle other than her lips. She was completely calm in her reasoning. "They won't find out. That's why I waited until after the thing with Nessie before I even thought about talking to him."

Several thoughts entered my head at the same time. Who was this 'Volturi' that Edward spoke about and why would they want to kill anyone? And how could Esme be so calm with something as 'life-and-death' as this. "What 'thing' with Nessie?" I demanded of Esme.

"Oh shit!" I heard Edward yell as he noticed that I was outside. He looked right at me, and gave me a predatory glance. For the first time in my life, I was actually afraid of my son-in-law, and wondered if what Esme had told me about herself was also true about the whole family. "Shit, shit, shit!" He yelled just above a whisper. It was faint, but I still heard it. "How long have you known?" He asked me back at a more normal volume.

I looked sympathetically at Esme wondering if I should tell him the truth. She nodded in confirmation; he needed to know the truth. I took a deep breath to relax myself before saying clearly, "About three years now."

"Three years?!" The roared question came from both Edward and Bella. I nodded in reply.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me?" My daughter asked me as she was still trying to cry as she rushed back to hug me.

Even though she couldn't shed tears now, that didn't mean that I wasn't. I knew that this day would come, I just wasn't ready for it to be now. "Esme and Alice begged me not to say anything about it; to not even think about knowing when I was with you and Edward. Every time I saw you two, I just thought about how much I love Nessie and how much I want you two have the happiness that I never got with Renee."

"When did mom tell you?" Esme smiled as Bella called her mom as Esme nodded at me. She was telling me that it was okay to tell them everything, so I would.

Flashback to the day Esme and Alice told Charlie the truth, day after Bella and Edward's first wedding anniversary party

I was sitting in my house alone. Esme and Carlisle had given Bella and Edward a second honeymoon, somewhere in South America and they left after the party that Alice had thrown. I had just gotten back from fishing the Columbia River with Billy. First time in more than three years that I had been completely skunked when fishing. I mean not even a nibble all day after more than four hours in Billy's boat. But the good thing was that it gave us time to talk about a lot of things, central among them was a new found interest I had in Quileute lore and myth.

Even though I came back empty handed, I still enjoyed myself. Billy was my best friend and the only one who still liked to go fishing with, ever since Harry died. Something always seemed off about that; I mean Harry was relatively healthy, but to have a heart attack that sudden with no obvious cause. Just fishy.

I was sitting down to watch the Mariners game that evening. Nothing too out of the ordinary for one of my days off; fishing, watching a baseball game, and maybe a little target shooting if it got out of hand. About the third inning, there was a knock on my door, and I got up to see who it would be at the current hour. I was shocked when Alice and Esme were at the door.

"Hey guys," I greeted them with welcoming hugs; their routine, not mine.

"Hey Charlie," Alice said still in the hug we shared before separating. "It's just that," Alice sighed as she thought about what they were doing. I could tell that she was stalling, hoping that someone might come to stop them, but no one did. "I know how you made Bella promise to tell you the whole story someday and," but she was cut off.

Esme looked as nervous as Alice but took over for her daughter, "And I'm really tired of lying to you and so is Alice. But the only way we can tell you is if you know that there might be a price to ending your ignorance."

Great now they're gonna insult me. But then again didn't the old saying go that 'ignorance was bliss' and with as little as I know I should have been completely blissful. Don't get me wrong, I had a great family; terrific in-laws, and a beautiful granddaughter who was incredibly talented, even if having something genetically wrong with her that caused her growth to be too fast. I laughed as I quipped, "This isn't one of those 'I could tell ya, but then I'd have to kill ya' things, is it?"

The two of them both joined in my chuckle, but then amazingly Alice, in complete seriousness said, "Maybe, if the wrong people find out that you know. But were both so tired of lying to you, and I know that Bella feels the same way."

Okay, this was seriously creeping me out. Sure I was a police officer and I've seen a lot of mob TV shows, but this was almost too weird. Alice sounded dead serious; okay maybe a bad pun, but you get my point. She wanted to tell me something involving my family that could get me killed. Did I want to know that? Did I need to know? I looked at both of them and they looked like they knew the answer; I did.

I nodded in confirmation of what Alice had warned if she told me the truth. If could have a high price, but I was willing to pay anything to make my family feel better. "Okay, Alice. I'll accept the consequences of you telling me."

I had never seen this side of Alice before; her smile was even brighter and wider than I had ever noticed, and she rushed back to my side way too quickly. Then she hugged me tightly; I mean really tightly. So tight that I was going to have bruises on my sides for a week after she left, but that didn't mean that it didn't feel good when she did it. She even lifted me off my feet. How was that possible? Alice was at most 120 pounds, and here she was lifting me, a well… 220 pound man in her arms without so much as a grunt or strain or anything.

As we parted she said in a tone that I never heard from her before, almost an octave higher than usual and it rang in my ears like a bell, "Just know that no matter what you hear, you're one of our family and we'll do our best to make sure that no one hurts you. Deal?"

I smiled, love replacing the shock that I had been feeling from the last few minutes. "What do you mean 'that no one hurts me'?"

Esme was now hugging me in almost the same way that Alice had a moment ago, but much gentler. Even she lifted me off the ground too. "You remember when Jacob showed you what he could do?" Esme asked me, her voice also like Alice's, about a half an octave higher but still sounding as beautiful as ever.

I could see why Carlisle fell in love with her; she looked like an angel and her voice was even more intoxicating. I nodded as how could anyone forget a boy that I had known for most of his life had turned into a wolf, but then lay at my panicked self, like he wanted me to pet him or something. "Kinda hard to forget something like that," I laughed out nervously.

Esme smiled back at me, "Yeah, I guess it would be. The wolves normally protect humans from our kind."

'Our kind'? I wondered. What the hell was she getting at; what was she? And more so, why did she say what she did, 'protect humans'? My mind was wandering as I started to back away from them. Something was way off here, and I was getting really scared of what was going to happen.

Alice looked hurt, which crushed me. I stopped for just a second, feeling guilty for hurting someone who had been nothing but kind to me and my daughter since she met her. My confidence restored, I was able to able to apologize to Esme and Alice. They'd never hurt me, and I knew that.

Esme looked happy again, and was able to continue her story. "Yes, the Quileutes protect humans from most of our kind, but not from us. We don't hurt people as a rule unless there is no other choice."

My mind was still racing. What the hell were they?

Alice answered my question, sounding more serious than I ever heard someone before in my life, "We're vampires, all of us. Bella had to be changed into one after having Nessie, since she was a half-breed. If Edward hadn't done what he did, Bella wouldn't be here."

"V-v-vam-vampires?" I stuttered as my color left my face. I was almost terrified of them because I believed them. Everything now made sense. It explained a lot, even though it was still difficult to grasp completely. I never saw them eat, and could never remember them outside in the sunlight. But vampires weren't real; were they?

"Charlie, it's true," Esme cried out as she rushed to me again, wrapping her arm around my back.

I could tell that she feared that I wouldn't believe her, but something in me knew that one wouldn't lie about something like this. If she was saying it, it was probably true. "Okay then, where are your fangs or are you gonna turn into a bat or something like that?" I quipped trying to lighten the mood, but neither of their faces looked like they were kidding.

"Well we don't have fangs, but our teeth are sharp enough to cut through anything," Esme said trying to explain what she could. "And that whole 'turning into a bat' thing is complete nonsense, we are what we are."

"So that's why Jacob joked that Bella wished she was cool enough to turn into something," I whispered under my breath, but they both heard it and chuckled. I always like to see those two smile more than anyone else in their family.

"I guess, but we can prove it to you if you'd like," Alice offered expecting that I'd want some way to be shown they were different.

By now, I was seriously thinking that either this was a really sick joke or they were being completely candid. For some reason I suspected the latter was most likely the truth. "So does that mean Nessie is…"

"Nessie is half-vampire," Alice answered my thought. "What we said about her having a genetic disorder was that she is a half breed; there's nothing wrong with her."

I sat on the couch still feeling a little stunned, but coming closer to believing them. It was about five minutes later when I finally was reminded of their offer to prove it. "Okay," I said no longer completely skeptical, "how can you prove it to me?"

"How about a run," Esme said sounding completely sure that this would prove it to me.

I looked at my watch; it was past 22:00 and was way too late to go for a run. "Maybe tomorrow morning," I answered trying to put them off since I absolutely hated running.

"Come on, Charlie," Alice offered pulling me off the couch. If she pulled any harder, she might have pulled my arm out of the socket, so I relented and went out with them. "And besides, I'm starting to get thirsty."

"I'll get ya a glass of water if you want. I wouldn't want you to get dehydrated while were out running."

Alice laughed at me, "I don't need water, silly; I meant thirsty for blood. That's all we drink."

I turned as white as a ghost at what she said, "I…I…I thought you said that you wouldn't let anyone hurt me," I stuttered out completely terrified of them for the first time.

"Oops!" Alice yelped embarrassed that I had misunderstood her. "We don't drink human blood. Sorry if I scared you. I'm so embarrassed."

"Oh," I gasped relieved, feeling safer around them than I had in a while. "So where you want to run to?"

"I don't know," Esme said sounding as gentle as ever, "how bout the coast?"

"The coast?" I uttered stunned. It was more than twenty miles each way to the ocean. I wasn't a distance runner by any means, and that was way too long for me to go.

"Yeah," Alice said excited, "I haven't seen the coastline in more than a decade. Just hop on, Charlie."

"Hop on?" I asked. Did she really expect me to jump on her back? I was surprised when I stood there for a minute only to have someone lift me up and now carrying me. "Hey!" I yelled stunned.

"Shh," Alice whispered to me as I was on her back, still sounding like she had all night, "you're gonna wake the neighbors and we don't have all night."

The run to the ocean took less than five minutes. I had never traveled that fast in my life, and I have to admit that it was kinda cool. The cool evening breeze on my face felt great, even if I did get whipped a few times by branches that actually scraped me and made me bleed in a few places. To my surprise, Esme and Alice didn't even notice; either they had no affinity for human blood or had remarkable self control. I didn't know which, but I wasn't in a huge hurry to find out.

Alice sat me on the beach and we talked for a few minuted about the reason that they were so afraid to tell me the truth; that a ruling cabal of vampires had forbidden the revelation of their kind to humans, and it was punishable by death to the human.

"My god!" I screamed, terrified that they had just sentenced me to death by some vampire police force. "I thought that you said that you wouldn't let anyone hurt me?"

"We won't," Esme countered. "I don't intend to ever tell them, and if they find out… well they did give Bella the option of being transformed into a vampire."

"Trans…formed?" I stuttered again. "So does that mean that Bella is?"

Alice smiled and nodded, "Yep she's just like us now, and she and Edward have eternity together."

At that there was a rustle in the branches of the forest that butted up to the coast. Alice sniffed the air and caught the scent of something that was completely intoxicating to her. "Yum…dinner," Alice said greedily.

Esme lifted me and carried me behind Alice as she stalked and then caught her meal; a large buck. I saw the entire thing and was completely in awe of how powerful she was. It was graceful; the way the leapt onto the animal, and even the way she bit through the fur to reach the neck of the deer. But at no point while seeing this did I feel scared of either of them. I believed everything they said; that they would never intentionally hurt me. I knew they were right because of how much they both loved Bella and Nessie, and they would never do anything to upset me.

The two women switched places, so that it was Alice who carried me while Esme caught a doe. If anything, Esme's motions were even more graceful than Alice's. The two returned me to my house, and begged me never to tell anyone what I had seen that night. Of course, I agreed. I cared too much for both of them to ever put them in jeopardy. The also asked for one other condition, that when I saw Edward that I couldn't think about knowing the truth. And even more than that I couldn't think about hiding it since he'd see that too. I was advised by Alice that the safest course of action would be to think about how much I loved Nessie, since Edward would definitely believe that, and I really did love Renesmee anyway.

I had finished telling the story of when I first found out the truth about the Cullens. The most surprised was Jasper, followed by Carlisle. The doctor looked relieved about something, and I could tell that he was grateful for the way that I handled the truth. He leapt up to the balcony from the driveway, something I was completely in awe of and shook my hand.

"Thank you," Carlisle said to me with a smile on his face, "for listening to the truth. But now it's my turn to ask you something." Carlisle turned to Jacob and Sam to ask them, "I assume the packs are okay with me proposing this to Charlie?"

Sam and Jacob looked at Billy and all three of them nodded in unison. "We are," all of them said at the same time, with Jacob adding, "as long as Charlie agrees."

"Charlie, there's only one thing that can possibly save you now," Carlisle said in a serious voice, with a voice that sounded lower than normal. But that was not to say that his voice wasn't even more beautiful than I had ever heard it before. "Will you allow us to turn you into a vampire?"

I was about to answer, but Edward interrupted my thoughts. "Don't answer yet. Let us tell you what you're in for before you choose, because we want your informed consent."

Carlisle nodded to me. Man, this was going to be a long night. Thank god I didn't have to work in the morning.