A/N – I had this written about eight years ago and never published it. I've decided to clean it up a bit and post it. The original story was posted in 2013, and you should read it first.

La Push, Washington

July 2025

Angela Cheney POV

"Audrey! Stop!", I shouted at the retreating figure of my 6 year old daughter as she stumbled and ran over the rocky beach. Grabbing my oversized bag that had everything a mom with a small child might need for an afternoon outing, I quickly rose from the driftwood log that I'd been sitting on, walking quickly after my little rascal. I smiled to myself as the sound of her cute squeals and giggles that were so loud and carefree that even the whipping wind and crashing waves couldn't muffle it completely.

When I shouted again, she simply waved back at me, a little flap of her hand over her shoulder. She didn't stop, and I shook my head in fond exasperation. I huffed a bit as I picked up my pace, but was still smiling as I watched her run down the beach, chasing a little dog that had been scampering around her for the past few minutes. I could have caught her if I wanted to, but Audrey could often be a serious little girl, and it was nice to see her acting her age and just letting herself have some silly time.

As I followed, I kept up with her easily enough, watching as the ends of her bright red raincoat flapped around her knees. It wasn't raining yet, but this was Forks after all, and the rain was inevitable.

As we left the beach proper, her laughter sounded louder now away from the crashing waves. She ran past some other beachgoers, many of them turning to watch her with a smile. There was just something about a young child playing so happily that could put a smile on almost anyone's face. I was happy to see Audrey doing that today, instead of the usual praise from teachers on her precocious nature.

I could see the dog – maybe it was a nearly grown puppy? – wagging it's tail furiously whenever she got close to it, and she would squeal loudly if it turned and ran a circle around her before running back down the road. It moved further away from the beach, running along the side of one of the unpaved roads that led towards some of the houses of La Push, most of which backed onto the forest.

I called out again, telling her to not follow the dog into someone's driveway or out into the road. She slowed, but did not stop, so I walked faster. "Audrey! Wait for me please!"

My daughter turned her head, slowing her stumbling, carefree jog to a walk, and then finally she stopped. The wind kicked up, and her long brown curls flew around her face and head in a wild tangle; her smile was wide and her eyes bright. "It's okay Mommy! It's the puppy! It still wants to play with me! See?" Her sweet little girl's voice caught the attention of several more people who were standing outside of one of the small convenience stores, and they all seemed to smile at her antics.

I picked up my pace as she waited for me, the sound of her giggles reaching me once again as she clapped as the puppy turned towards her and barked playfully. I had to admit, the little dog was adorable – I thought it was probably some kind of retriever breed - and it did seem like it was waiting for my daughter to catch up; each time she did, it's tail started to wag furiously and it would scamper off again. If she fell too far behind, it barked a few times, almost like it was urging her to keep up.

Chuckling at my daughters absolute delight, I decided that, so long as she stayed out of the road and didn't get far from me, she could chase it for a while.

When she saw me finally make a shooing motion for her and nodded my head in acquiescence, she squealed out "thank you mommy!" and ran after the dog again, her small arms flailing about as she splashed through small puddles in her little yellow boots.

I kept a close distance, enjoying the happy giggles coming from my beautiful daughter as she chased the puppy that loped down the road, always just ahead of her. There were very few cars out, so I was fairly comfortable letting her run like this.

After maybe five minutes of playful chasing, the dog veered off the road and turned onto a small unpaved driveway towards a pair of very small houses; one of them was red, with a big rusted garage off to the side; the other was a pale brown, and looked much newer and in better condition than the red one. A fairly new, green SUV sat in the driveway in front of the red house. The sounds of a sports game on television was coming from an open window.

The puppy bounded straight up onto the porch of the tan house, where I saw that there was a round, silver water dish that it began to drink from.

When I saw my daughter still chasing after the dog and about to go onto someone's porch, I sped up my pace, passing the red house as I did. "Audrey, stop this instant!" I said, my 35 year old body having trouble keeping up with my energetic daughter. I was more out of breath than I had realized, having walked briskly or jogged for the past ten minutes or so.

Even as my daughter stopped before she got to the porch, the puppy suddenly turned and ran right to Audrey's legs, running in small circles around her, it's tail flapping against her shins and it's tongue wagging as it puffed happily. I laughed as I watched my little girl squeal with delight and surprise, not sure what to do with herself now that the little pup wasn't running from her anymore. I walked up to them slowly, not wanting to scare the little dog away as my daughter seemed completely captivated with it.

As I watched her leaning down to rub her hands along it's back, I thought maybe I could talk Ben into getting a dog? True, it would be more difficult to keep a dog in the city in our apartment, but we did live pretty close to several parks and we had discussed moving to a small house outside of Tacoma in the next year or two.

My daughter and I were here in Forks visiting with my parents for a long weekend before heading back to our apartment in Seattle. As Audrey got older, we'd been making the drive down here less and less frequently as careers and Audrey's extra-curricular activities - dance, kiddie soccer, and music lessons - took up more and more of our free time. But I was very glad I made the time to come here with Audrey. I had not been to La Push in many years, since right after the announcement of Bella's death.

A chill went through me, thinking about that. I could never help but wonder…

Another high pitch squeal pulled my attention back to Audrey. She absolutely loved it here, and we'd spent several hours just wandering on the beaches, visiting the tide pools, and playing in the sand. But it was getting late, and was beginning to drizzle: t was time to head out, as I had a long drive back to the city and I had work in the morning.

"Come on Audrey," I said softly, "say goodbye to the puppy. We need to get going, as we have to we say bye bye to Grandma and Grandpa before we drive home."

Audrey looked up at me with her big brown eyes. "But Mommy, I don't wanna go! I want to play with Mr. Puppy some more!" She stamped her little foot, and leaned down to hug the dog. When the adorable puppy began to lick her face with its small pink tongue, Audrey's happy laughter rang out across the quiet street.

"Okay, Audrey, you have two minutes to say goodbye to Mr. Puppy. Then we really need to go." I smiled at her as she got to her knees – luckily I had her in waterproof pants – and hugged the puppy and told her how much she loved him and would miss him.

Shaking my head fondly, I looked around at the street again. I didn't recognize where we were, but I could see one of the main access roads to the beach not too far away, and I could hear the sound of the ocean in the distance.

Wandering back a bit towards the red house, I suddenly heard a deep, slow voice speaking. I looked up in surprise, and when I didn't see anyone I realized the voice was traveling through the same open window I heard the sports game from, in the side of the red house.

"You owe me ten bucks Charlie. The Seahawks ain't never going to beat the Redskins."

A gruff laugh answered. "Okay, okay, Billy. Whatever you say. But I've got to get going, Sue expected me back a half hour ago. We are going to Montessano to pick up that old table she had refinished."

I stopped listening at that point, embarrassed that I had been eavesdropping on what was essentially someone's driveway. Just as I was turning away, however, the deep voce spoke again. "Jacob should be back with Renesmee any minute."

I stopped mid-step, the name Jacob catching my attention for some reason. I was tired, and was trying to figure out what was pinging my interest, when the second voice answered.

"Well, they need to get moving if they want to catch their plane. Alice and Jasper are flying out with them."

And suddenly, my memory was clear. The 'Jacob' I was remembering was Jacob Black, the boy who had a massive crush on Bella and who caused a bit of a scene with her at her wedding. And the 'Alice and Jasper' – well, with the name 'Jacob' associated with him, and me standing in La Push – they could only be Alice and Jasper Cullen.

More connections were made in my head, and I realized 'Charlie' was probably Charlie Swan, Bella's father.

How odd. I didn't realize that Jacob Black was friendly with Alice and Jasper Cullen, certainly to the point he was 'flying out' with them somewhere.

Then again, I had not seen or heard anything about the Cullen's in a very long time, and had not heard the name 'Jacob Black' for even longer: all the way back in high school.

I sighed then, thinking about that elusive family, the Cullen's.

It had been several years since I'd thought about them, really; after Bella's death was announced, they'd slowly faded from my mind, with the exception of when my daughter was born and I sent that email to Bella's old address. I hadn't expected a reply - even if she was alive - and truthfully had not thought of my old friend in several years, not since Audrey was about three years old, and asked me, with her little lisp and a big gap where her front teeth were missing, why her middle name was Isabella, and who that was.

But now, my interest was piqued, and I shamelessly eavesdropped on the interesting conversation.

I'd missed some of it, but then the gruff voice spoke again.

"They should be back in a few minutes, stick around to say goodbye to your Grandaughter. They are picking up a few things from Emily for Seth, and going straight back." And then a deep chuckle. "And you know the way Jacob drives that Ferrari, they'll make it."

"Don't remind me, Billy. I don't want to have to write him a ticket."

"Whatever you say, Charlie."

Charlie. Charlie was Charlie Swan. Bella's dad.

Granddaughter?

A strange feeling swirled through me at that moment, and I felt like I was back here in a younger version of herself.

I didn't understand the feeling, but Charlie and Billy – Jacob's dad? - were speaking again and my ears couldn't help themselves, trying to listen over the sounds of my daughters soft giggles and the panting of Mr. Puppy.

The deep voice - Billy - made a grumbling sound, and then coughed a few times before speaking again. "Is the whole clan back at the ranch or are they all going to that wedding together?"

"I think they are all going. It's one of their old family friends, helped them out with some of the troubles back in the day."

Billy just huffed in reply, before speaking again. "And they are moving again?

"Yes. Esme said Carlisle will probably finish out the year at the hospital, or until they find a new trauma surgeon willing to work at such a small hospital. Once the position is filled, they will be moving on."

Again that strange feeling ran through me. What a strange coincidence this was; the last time I'd been here was shortly after Bella's death, where I came to do some reflecting and try and get my thoughts in order. And now, her and Jacob's father were here, talking about the Cullen's everyday lives, just as I followed a puppy up to their driveway.

How strange.

"Where are they moving too this time?" Billy asked after a short pause.

"Not sure, really. Jacob and Ness said that Alice had a few places in mind, and Bella said they are possibly looking a little further east, maybe Colorado this time."

Time suddenly stood still as my mind took a moment to process what it just heard - the name of my dear departed friend - and I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself.

That just happened.

Bella. The name echoed through my skull and I felt an enormous wave of emotion sweep through me. It was so strong, I felt my vision getting spotty, and my knees felt suddenly weak. Tears sprang to my eyes, already falling down my cheeks. Dizzy, I felt myself going down, and I groped out with my hands blindly, trying to ease my way as I sat down hard on my butt, right there in the middle of the Black's driveway.

As I took several deep breaths, trying to will away the faintness that had almost overcome me, I tried to concentrate over the thundering in my ears, focusing on the one important fact that I'd just heard.

Bella.

Charlie Swan had just used Bella's name.

In the present tense.

I knew it. Deep down, I knew it.

Bella Swan was still alive.

A/N -I have a little more written, let me know if this is worth continuing!