Chapter 16: A New Beginning
She wasn't sure how this would go as she walk down the street to the Swan house. She didn't like the idea of leave on bad terms with Charlie. He had done so much for her and she was grateful to him for it. She cared for him and still wanted to at least be his friend at the end of this. She would work hard to gain his forgiveness.
She thought about what she would say to him as she walked, passing houses of either side of her. Could she make any of this better? Bella had run off to a foreign country. Sue said that she had returned but Charlie was still very angry. But what could she do, Bella running off wasn't her fault and she wasn't going to pretend like it was? This was the vampire's fault.
She looks over at the trees that she would run through behind the houses, she liked it here. What if she had to leave because of all this. She was in Sam's pack now, but she didn't think the pack knew this yet. They had their pack mind and she couldn't be a part of that, but she felt it in her heart. The hole that was her old pack was now filled of this new wild wolf pack. She loved them, but if Charlie really wanted to make trouble for her then she would have to disappear to protect the pack, her pack.
But Sam and the tribe could protect her, but she didn't want to be a burden on them. Maybe she could live in Canada and come down here secretly to help patrol. She wasn't really sure what would happen next, would Sam want her to leave? She had caused so much trouble for the small pack, she couldn't add to it.
Then there was Paul, he was another wild card she wasn't sure about. She liked him and respected him but the way he kissed her, the way he made her feel was, in all honesty, a bit scary. She wasn't sure she could allow herself the leisure for his affection. She knew if she allowed herself to fall for him, she would one day be broken and she would have no one else to blame but herself. He was a shifter and shifters only hear the calling for humans, that was the way of things. Her grandmother used to say that it was how the Gods made them, the callings were there to bring them back to humanity and to remind them way they fight so hard for it. Paul's calling would be human, and she was not human.
She approached Charlie's house, it was a nice middle-class home, two stories. She couldn't say she was a big fan of it. Bella was right it was a testament to how much Charlie love Renee, Bella's mom. He would never part with it. Taking a deep breath, then…. She stops, that smell…. Vampire.
She jogs around the whole house, smelling everything, it was inside. She pounds on the door, "Charlie… Bella," she says, alarmed.
The door opens and Charlie looks at her, a bit bored and upset still. "Charlie, who is here? I have a bad feeling," she says, because she couldn't tell him the truth about what she smelled. She knows she should lead with something else but there was a vampire in his house and she needed to protect him and Bella.
"Don't we all," Charlie says and to her surprise, he opens the door and hugs her. She was so unprepared that she didn't respond for a minute. Her hands went to his back, hugging him back.
"Charlie, I'm so sorry," she says. She wasn't apologizing because she thought she did anything wrong just for the whole situation. Everything he had been through.
"No, Daiane. I'm sorry," Charlie says, "I'm a big enough man to admit that I was wrong and what I did to you was wrong."
"Charlie, that's is very big of you but I'm sorry," she says, "I didn't mean to stay away so long. But I do really need to know who is in this house. Something isn't right."
"You got that right," Charlie looks tried as he runs his fingers through his hair. "Edward's back and I'm not sure what to do anymore. I don't want to lose my daughter again but I can't accept him back in her life. But if I don't Bella may—leave again."
"Charlie," she says quietly. This had to be one of the hardest chooses Charlie had to make. Accept a vampire into his daughter's life or risk losing her. Charlie didn't even know that Edward was a vampire, just a teenage boy who ran off with his daughter's heart. The latter was bad enough but if he knew the former he would probably go insane. He was going to loss Bella one way or another with a vampire around. If he lost control, even for a second, Edward could kill everyone on this block. And this was the ultimatum that Bella gives her father?
Could she be anymore selfish? All of Daiane's respect for Bella dropped to an all-time low.
"Please come back to the house," Charlie asks. "Maybe you can talk some since into her?"
"I can try," she says, "As for coming back… Charlie I think it—maybe time—"
"Don't say it," Charlie puts his hand up to stop her.
"Charlie, I," she starts but is unsure what to say next.
"Please just talk to Bella," Charlie asks.
She nods and walk up the stairs to Bella's room. She smells the vampire more here and is digested by it. It's in her room without Charlie's knowledge. "You're not supposed to be here," she says in a harsh whisper.
She opens the door and glares at the vampire in Bella's room. Bella sits on the bed as the vampire stand by the window. Edward's light brown hair likes windblown with his porcelain white skin. He golden eyes watch her as she enters the room, threats in his eyes, like she was the one who was going to hurt Bella.
"Isabella," she says sternly, "Do you realize what you are doing to your father?"
"Daiane, you wouldn't understand," Bella says standing up.
"Oh, I understand better than you think I do," she returns, "He is a vampire. A killer. You think this strange relationship will last Bella. You can't have anything with him. Nothing. He can't give you a life."
"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT," Bella yells. She was sure Charlie could hear her downstairs, thankfully he doesn't come up.
"Oh, but I do," she says. "He can't give you a home. A normal life. A family."
"Yes, he can," Bella says moving closer to the vampire and putting her hand in his. She screws up her lip in disgust at the idea of touching his cold, icy skin. "He already has."
"No, he hasn't," she says. "You are a pet to them."
"That's not true," Edward says for first time.
"It's not," she asks sarcastically. "Really? What!? Are you planning on turning her into one of you?"
From the way Bella looked, she was hoping she would be one of them sooner rather than later. Edward looks undecided. She couldn't believe it; Bella would put this vampire over her own father. She would terminate her father to be with this—thing—this undead creature.
"You would choose him over Charlie," she says in disbelief. "You would destroy your father for this creature."
"I—Charlie will be fine without me," Bella says.
"I think you know that's not true, Bella," she says, "You have never lost a child."
"Neither have you," Bella returns.
"I've lost my whole family. My mother, my father, grandmother, aunt, sister, friends, everyone I have ever knew by force. I've lost and I know what it can do to you. You would put Charlie and your mother through that pain for it." She points to it, the creature, the vampire.
"You didn't choose this," Bella says defectively. "I do."
"You are a fool Bella," Daiane says. "He will not always be there for you. And this is a toxic relationship if there ever was one."
"SHUTUP," Bella shouts.
"I will never leave Bella unless she asks me too," Edward says.
"You will kill her," she finishes and walks out. She walks past Charlie on her way out the door and tells him, "He's got his hooks in her good, Charlie. I'm sorry, do not trust him."
She runs out the door and into the woods. She couldn't kill the Cullens with the treaty that the wolf pack has with them. She was a member of their pack and she had to obeyed by their rules. If she wasn't in Sam's pack, she would be ripping that vampire to pieces now but she couldn't. Running into the woods she shifts fast and runs, just runs.
She needed to clear her mind. She felt so sorry for Charlie, And Bella, she was just so disgusted with her, she couldn't even describe it. To cause such pain to someone who loved you so much, that was just the most selfish thing she could imagine. How could Bella do this to her own father? She could understand Edward not really caring about Charlie but Bella!
She runs and runs, until her muscle gets sore and she can run not more. She was a jaguar and we were not distance runners. Her subconscious must have known where she wanted to go before she did, because she was near Paul's house for the scents in the air. Maybe she was following his scent? She didn't know but she knew this was the only place she wanted to be right now.
Paul's house was small just a one-story ranch but it was nice here tucked away from everything, in the woods. It was yellow on the outside with a nice porch to sit on. She always loved sitting on her grandmother front porch talking and sharing stories of the day or just looking out over the jungles around the house. His porch looked over the forest not jungles but the idea was there.
She shifted back and dressed quickly; she didn't know if he was home. Maybe she could wait for him on the porch but she would probably loss her nerve and run off if he wasn't there. She stares at the small bright house, could she call this place home? Could she? Was she brave enough to open herself to the pain he could cause her? She would never blame him for hearing his calling but the pain—
She takes deep breath and walks up the porch steps to the door. The steps look like they were recently replaced. Gathering what was left of her strength she knocks on the door. Maybe he wasn't house? This was a bad idea; she should just leave. This was too much; she couldn't do it.
As she starts to turn away the door to the house opens and Paul stands there. He was so striking; his hair was wet from a fresh shower. He didn't wear a shirt, his broad shoulders and chest covered with copper skin with lean muscles. She could see he alluring six pack abs leading into the waistline of his jeans. The muscles of his arms bulge as he holds the door open and grabs the door frame to steady himself. He looked surprised to see her.
"Ummm," she says dumbly.
"Ahh," he says back just as speckless.
They silently stare at each other for a moment, Daiane was partially turned away from him, half way off the porch with one foot on the steps. They are both frozen in shock. Before he says, "Daiane, would you—would you like to come in?"
"Yes?"