the characters in this story belong to Stephanie Meyer's

Chapter 2

With all her mother's excitement in packing Bella up and preparing her to move in with her father, Bella was not expecting this to happen when it was time for her to leave.

Jumping in the back seat with Bella, Renee wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her tight. The closer they came to the airport the tighter Renee held her.

Renee was panicking. Her breath was heavier than it should have been. Her eyes were wide and she was alternating between gnawing on her lower lip and trembling it.

When Phill parked the car Renee would not let go. Bella tried unsuccessfully to get out of her mother's embrace. Phil opened his wife's door and crouched down. "Ren sweety, it's time."

Her mother shook her head frantically. "No." The word came out in a choked gasp.

"Renee, we talked about this. Bella is going to live with her father." His voice was kind but assertive.

"No!" She said louder tears streaming down her face.

Phil gave what sounded like a defeated breath. "Okay, I guess that means you will be staying home with her."

Renee jumped, loosening her grip enough that Bella was able to escape the vehicle. She faced her husband. "No. Can't we just take her with us?"

Phil took her face in his hands. "Think of it like this. Traveling around like we are going to be like our honeymoon. Do you really want to bring Bella on our honeymoon?"

Her face brightened a little. "YES!" She practically shouted.

His eyebrows jumped. " You want your daughter to stay with us on our honeymoon." He raised his eyebrows in question.

"Well, she can have her own room."

Exasperated now Phil stood up. "No! Renee the choices here are-send her to her father's or stay home with her."

Renee got out of the car. "But I-"

He interrupted her. "No!"

Bella decided to take over for him. "Mom, I want to go." She lied. It's not that she didn't want to, she just didn't care either way.

"What?" Renee asked horrified, "You want to leave me?" She was shaking and crying hysterically now.

People had started to look. The attraction this frantic wild woman was putting on drew the attention of everyone.

"No, mom. No." Bella held her hands out to her mother invitingly. Calmly and quietly speaking to her. "I don't want to leave you. I just want to spend time with my dad." Her mother now in her arms she said the words that she knew would make Renee let her go. "You could always come with me."

Her mother huffed a laugh. "To that dreary little town. No way. I don't understand why you would want to go there either." Maybe not.

"Mom it's not the town I want to go see. It's Charlie." With a sniffle her mother conceded.

Phil hugged her goodbye and whispered, "You know I'm not trying to get rid of you right kid? I just want you to have some time to just be a kid. You could come to spend time with us whenever you want." She nodded her head and assured him that she knew.

She then hugged her mother goodbye. Phil had to pull Renee's arms off of Bella and place them around himself so that she could catch her flight.

Before they were out of sight, Bella turned around to see her mother hanging tightly onto Phil and crying. It looked like he was holding her up. Bella felt guilt so strongly that she almost turned around. No, she told herself, Phil was right. This would be good for her, staying in the same place for once.

When Bella got comfortable in her seat she opened her carry-on. In it were a pair of slippers, three books, a parka, and a zip-up sweater. She switched out her sneakers for the slippers, pulled out the sweater just in case she got cold and chose one of her books to read.

When she used to go on these flights to go see Charlie the flight attendants used to act as babysitters. Checking on her seeing if she needed anything keeping a watchful eye the entire flight. They still did this but not to the same extent. However, they did still walk with her to make sure somebody was there to pick her up.

Charlie thanked the stewardess for taking care of his girl and then gave his daughter an awkward hug.

"You got big." He commented, Bella guessed he didn't know what else to say.

"Yeah." She replied quietly.

She was 5'1. Shorter than average for her age. But it had been a few years; so she's supposed, to Charlie, her height difference was significant.

Waiting for her suitcases was aggravating. She had three of them. There were so many people around the conveyor belt that every time she tried to grab her luggage she missed. She only succeeded in grabbing one of her bags and it was the heaviest one. Bella was dragged at least a foot before she gave up and let go. She ended up having to point them out to Charlie. By the time he figured out what bag she was pointing at it was out of reach.

After a long while the crowd thinned out and it was easier to figure out which bags were hers. Charlie threw Bella's carry on over his shoulder then grabbed the two heaviest bags. One had her books and decorations for her room, and the other one had all her clothes in it. He seemed to be struggling and more dragged than carried one of the bags.

Bella carried the one that held a blanket that took up most of the space, some pictures, and a small stuffed wolf. She had no idea where the wolf came from, but she's had it for longer than she could remember.

When coming out of the airport Bella gaped in horrified surprise. There, sitting next to the curb was a police cruiser. Mostly living in big cities where the cops often left their police cars at the station and drove civilian Vehicles home, she had forgotten that her father, the police chief of Forks Washington, drove his Cruiser everywhere. It was the only vehicle he had.

She looked around and noticed, like her mother; the cop car was a magnet for people's attention. All eyes looked its way. Unlike her mother who kept the interest of her audience the cruiser would not be the main focus for long. People's attention would be drawn to the unfortunate souls that had to get into this car. Soon all their eyes would be on her. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized she had to ride to Charlie's house in this monstrosity.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Bella, what's wrong?" Her father asked.

"NN-nothing." She stuttered out.

"You're crying." He told her unnecessarily.

"I'm okay." She forced her feet to move forward opening the passenger door and getting in. She was so distracted by the thoughts of everyone looking at her getting into this cop car, she did not realize Charlie was packing away all the bags including her carry-on. The ride back to Charlie's house was long, especially since he put all her bags including the one with some of her books in it, in the trunk.

He did try to start a few conversations. "I'm happy you decided to come and live with me. I've really missed you"

Bella's gaze stayed out the window. She responded with a small, "okay."

Charlie tried again. "I got you registered for school. It doesn't start for two more weeks. Maybe I could introduce you around a bit. So you can make some friends. You know, before school starts. It will be easier if you know some people. Don't you think?"

She hummed her response "mhm."

Bella continued to stare out the window. With every change in the landscape, she'd make up a new story in her head. When the forest came into view. It was Green everywhere. Even the trunks of the trees were green. The stories this forest would have her coming up with. Alien lands, Mysteries, Horrors, fantasies. She would write about fairies and mystical creatures. She'd have so many story ideas she wouldn't be able to get them all down.

Charlie noticed the change in her disposition. She seemed less Dreadful and more excited. This gave him hope that she would be happy here. He didn't want to pull her mood back down so he kept his thoughts to himself. But he let the smile she wouldn't see remain on his lips.