*BPOV*

"She's here! She's here!" I heard Charlie say excitedly from inside the house after I rang the doorbell. If I were human, I would've just walked in, but that didn't feel appropriate now.

When we had walked up the front walk that evening, it had sounded like Charlie and Sue were doing the dishes together in the kitchen. Sue had been razzing him for loading the dishwasher all wrong.

I smiled fondly; It was a familiar bone of contention between Edward and me when we lived together in our little house in New Hampshire, back when I still dirtied dishes and he was the one to load the machine all wrong.

Edward seemed to be reading my mind without currently having access to it. "So is it just a male/female thing, then?" he pondered.

"Must be," I grinned. The sound of Charlie's thundering heart came ever closer as he bustled to the door.

With his hand on the doorknob, Charlie paused to take a deep breath at the same time as I sucked in one last lungful of fresh air. The deadbolt snicked open and the door flung open wide.

There in his best flannel, dad jeans, and Costco socks stood Charlie, mouth agape and eyes bulging out of his head as he surveyed my new and improved form.

His face registered first his shock, then his fear. Then once his eyes landed on my mouth, his wide brown eyes flashed minutely with recognition.

Clearing his throat, he finally said "Welcome home, kiddo," and tentatively held his arms open for a hug.

I looked fearfully to Edward first, who murmured, "You can do this. Hold your breath and be gentle," in a voice so low that Charlie wouldn't have been able to hear.

My throat was a raging inferno at Charlie's proximity. Every heartbeat pounded in my ears like it could've been my own.

He smelled so familiar, but his scent was so much more distinct than I remembered. Like hops from his favorite beer and the police station's stale coffee. Also traces of newsprint, gunpowder, xerox toner, and the earthy scent of nightcrawlers that he preferred to use as bait.

But above all else, Charlie smelled like blood. Hot, wet, delicious blood.

"Hi, Dad," the words clawed their way out of my scorched throat. As I stepped closer to him, the bloodthirsty monster inside me rattled at the bars to her cage, demanding to be fed.

I swallowed convulsively at the venom that flooded my mouth. The herd of elk we'd decimated on the way here simply didn't satisfy when something so delicious stood inches away from my razor-sharp teeth.

I clenched my teeth shut. Not even the Jaws of Life with its 60,000 pounds of spreading force could have pried my lips apart.

Charlie wrapped his arms around me and squeezed while I stood there letting him. Unbreathing with my face turned away, I only dared to give him a few whisper-soft pats on the back so I didn't accidentally hurt him.

I ended the hug too quickly to be considered polite, but even so, Edward beamed at me proudly as I pulled away from Charlie and returned safely to Edward's side.

Charlie had yet to acknowledge Edward, which forced Edward to be the first to say something so as not to seem rude.

"It's good to see you, Charlie. Thank you for having-" but before he could get the sentence out, Charlie pulled back his elbow and punched Edward in the jaw with a hard right cross.

Edward had seen it coming of course, and allowed it to happen. I glowered at him. "You couldn't have ducked?" I seethed in the split second before Charlie had time to process the pain.

Edward's face twisted with grief and indecision. "I'm sorry, love. He just wanted to hit me so badly, and his pride would've hurt worse if I'd stopped him…"

"ARGH!" Charlie hollered as he pulled his smarting hand away and clutched it to his chest. "What the hell are you made out of?" Charlie roared.

Sue came running out of the house then, hastily drying her hands with a dishrag.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"Charlie broke his hand...punching my face," Edward cringed with regret as Charlie cursed up a blue streak, stomping up and down the front walk cradling his injured hand.

"You call me Chief Swan," Charlie growled and pointed accusingly at Edward with his good hand.

"Oh, Charlie," Sue clucked with a sigh. "Come inside and let's get some ice on that hand."

Sue shooed Charlie into the house and Edward and I trailed behind. They veered into the kitchen while Edward and I broke off and waited on the couch for Charlie to cool off, figuratively and literally.

"See where I get it from?" I smirked.

"It's uncanny," Edward said with an incredulous shake of his head.

"Foolish man!" Sue quietly scolded from the kitchen as she cracked the ice cubes out of the tray. "What did you think you were doing? You can't just go around hitting vampires!"

My shoulders shook with laughter despite myself. Sue was exactly the female influence Charlie needed in his life.

"Edward?" I asked as my eyes glanced around the familiar room, briefly wondering if there'd always been so many dust bunnies.

"Hmm?" He absently replied from beside me, distracted by the exchange of voices and thoughts coming from the kitchen.

"What did you plan to do if Charlie drew blood when he hit you?" I raised my eyebrows at him expectantly.

Edward blanched. "Well... I guess we should just be glad he didn't," he chuckled nervously then cleared his throat and asked "How're you holding up? How's your throat?"

I just glared back at him, slowly shaking my head with disapproval as a low growl rumbled from my chest.

Several minutes later, Charlie trudged into the living room holding an ice pack to the back of his hand as he flopped into his well-loved La-Z-Boy. Choosing to keep her distance from Edward and me, Sue perched herself next to Charlie on the wide, weathered arm of his chair.

Charlie looked like he couldn't decide which one of us to glare at, so his furious eyes kept shifting back and forth between Edward and me. But at least his face had dimmed from an alarming shade of vermillion to a healthier hue of King salmon.

"Can I ask one question?" Charlie spluttered, never one for small talk.

Swallowing the excess venom first before I spoke, I answered earnestly, "You can ask me absolutely anything."

"Can you just explain to me why this was necessary?" he waved his hand vaguely in my direction. "Help me out, kid. I just want to understand," Charlie's tired eyes searched mine for an explanation.

Just going to dive right in then, I thought, exhaling loudly. "There's a lot of reasons, but the simplest is because I love Edward with all my heart and I want to be with him forever," I said, squeezing Edward's hand.

"Married at eighteen wasn't permanent enough for you?" Charlie huffed.

"Dad, it wasn't safe for me to stay human when all of my friends were vampires and werewolves," I rolled my eyes a little brattily before I could stop myself.

"And before you say anything too nasty to Edward, just know that Edward saved you from putting me in the ground easily half a dozen times in the short time that I lived with you, Dad," Edward and Charlie both winced at that. "And that's not even including the catastrophes the wolves saved me from!" I agitatedly threw my hands up in the air. "It's the reason Edward left me, Dad," I said in a quiet, pained voice. "To keep me safe."

"So why'd you come back then?" Charlie snarled, turning to Edward.

"Dad," I shook my head. "None of this is going to make any sense to you at all unless you know the whole story."

So I told him. About all of it. About Edward saving me from Tyler's van, risking exposing his entire family.

About him saving me from my would-be rapists in Port Angeles. Charlie looked like he was about to have a stroke when I told that story, so I quickly moved on.

I told him about the nomadic vampires in the baseball field the night Edward and I "broke up." I apologized to Charlie again for the hurtful lies I'd told him that night, explaining it was the only way to keep him safe from the vengeful James.

I told him about how I really got hurt in Phoenix. Showed him the crescent-shaped scar on my wrist and regaled him with the Cullens' heroic rescue.

I went on to tell Charlie about the events of my miserable eighteenth birthday party that precipitated Edward leaving me.

Told him about all the reckless crap I did in order to stalk my delusions of Edward after he'd left…how it was the reason I'd ultimately jumped off the cliff. Judging by the look on Edward's face, he was hearing some of those details for the first time, too. Oops.

Then I had to go into the whole "saving Edward from the vampire mafia" thing which necessitated explaining the Cullens' gifts.

Charlie's eyes just got wider and wider as I explained how Edward could hear thoughts, Jasper can alter moods, and Alice can see the future, which is how she'd seen me jump in the first place.

"What am I thinking right now?" Charlie demanded of Edward.

"It wouldn't be polite to repeat that in front of the ladies, sir," Edward replied regretfully. "But suffice it to say, the combination to your gun safe is Bella's birthday, and every night before bed, you say a prayer asking God to watch over her. To keep her safe," Edward laid his hand on top of mine that was curled around my kneecap.

Charlie's eyes opened impossibly wide before he finally muttered, "Some good it did!... And what do you mean every night?" Charlie squinted suspiciously at Edward who maintained a calm exterior, but I could tell by the clenched set of his jaw that he was internally castigating himself for saying too much.

Instead of letting Edward try to explain how he knew what Charlie did every night, I launched into the tale of Victoria's return, my closet-raiding visitor, and the newborn army.

I smiled warmly at Sue as I retold the story of how Seth bravely fought off Riley while Edward took care of Victoria once and for all. How the Cullens and the wolves fought side by side for a common purpose. How Jake had been hurt in the fight, protecting Leah, not in some stupid motorcycle wreck.

"After that…we got married and went off to Dartmouth and you know the rest," I said, leaving out the part where I agreed to marry Edward only so that he would change me himself and make love to me while I was still human. The old man's heart could only take so much.

"So as you can clearly see, after all of that, becoming one of them was the only thing that made sense. It was too dangerous to stay human, and neither of us would've survived being apart from each other. And besides…the Volturi would have killed me if he didn't turn me. I knew too much."

Before Charlie could get a word in edgewise, I tacked on, "And I think your prayers worked better than you think. Not many people can say they have a guardian angel and can't die," I snarked dryly and pantomimed dropping a microphone.

"You…you can't die?" Charlie asked with an astonished look on his face.

"Nope." I said, popping the 'p.' "Or age."

That seemed to remind Charlie to be angry with Edward about something else.

"So it's true, then? He's a hundred years old?!" Charlie glared at Edward with renewed revulsion.

"106 in June, but who's counting?" Edward grimaced. Charlie's eyes bugged out again.

"What could a man old enough to be my grandfather possibly have in common with a 17-year-old girl!" Charlie thundered.

"Chief Swan, I know it's difficult to understand, but while I was born in 1901, parts of me were frozen in time when I was turned into a vampire at the age of 17."

"I can guess which parts those were!" Charlie sneered with disgust.

"Dad!" I reproached.

Edward's eyes narrowed at Charlie, who'd obviously struck a nerve. "My intentions for Bella have always been honorable, sir. I would never dream of disrespecting your daughter. I love her more than anything. More than my own life. She is my reason for existing."

Charlie's face softened fractionally. "Well, now, there's something we have in common," he muttered.

"Here's the thing, Edward, while I hate what you did, I can't even blame you for loving Bella. She's the best person I know, right up there next to Sue." The corner of Charlie's mustache twitched up into a smile as he wrapped his good arm around Sue. Their obvious affection for each other made my eyes burn with unshed tears of joy. Nobody deserved happiness more than Charlie did.

Charlie's smile was short-lived as he seemed to remember that he was in the middle of lighting into Edward. "But did you think you could buy me off with a fucking boat?" he fumed. Edward had the good sense to look abashed.

I told you that was a bad idea, I thought so Edward would hear. I swallowed a laugh as he shot me a frustrated glance and threw his hands up as if to say "It seemed like a good idea at the time!"

Then Charlie's eyes found mine again and his mouth pressed into a hard line. "Ya know, kid, the only thing scarier than being a dad is being a dad and a cop.

"I've lost a lot of sleep over the years worrying about keeping you safe from the evil that exists in this world. Drugs. Rapists. Abusers. Pedophiles. Sex trafficking rings…"

His eyes then flashed back over to Edward and the tight line of his mouth hardened into a scowl. "If only I'd known that some types of predators look like a family of movie stars, doctors, and Ivy League scholars," Charlie grunted with a sigh and a shake of his head.

"But what I'm saying is, for a dad...I guess it could be worse. Especially if you're telling me that I never have to worry about something happening to you. And you're not out there hurting people…"

"You have a lot less to worry about now that you've sorted things out with the tribe," I smiled gratefully at both Charlie and Sue. "Dismemberment by wolfpack is a rare exception to the whole immortality thing. Just ask Laurent," I snorted.

"And you're happy? This is what you wanted?" Charlie asked with a skeptical expression.

I clapped my hand on top of Edward's and gazed into the pale topaz of his eyes. "Happier than I ever thought possible. It was the best thing I ever did," I said sincerely.

Charlie appraised me for a long time. "Well…I'll get used to it, I guess," he grumbled, and I knew right then that we'd seen the worst of his wrath.

My head snapped back to Charlie. "You will?" I asked in a high, hopeful voice.

"You're my daughter and I love you. That never changes. So, yeah, I'll get used to it," Charlie rolled his eyes as if this were obvious.

"I have a question," Sue chimed in. "Will Charlie be in any danger from this Volturi now that he knows the truth," she asked with a worried frown.

I shook my head. "We just came from Italy to make sure that wouldn't be a problem. But honestly, with as much time as he spends around the wolves, there's probably nobody safer."

Sue nodded her head, mollified.

"How's your hand, Chief Swan? You've got a helluva right cross," Edward did his best to look pained as he rubbed a palm across his perfectly chiseled (and unmarked) jaw.

Charlie looked like he was trying to decide if he was being patronized, but Edward was a very good actor.

"If you want to know the truth, Edward, It hurts like a sonofabitch. But I guess I deserve it. As an officer of the law, I should know better than to go around assaulting people...if you want to press charges, I can call my deputy to-"

"That won't be necessary, Chief Swan. I've had that coming for a while now," Edward admitted with an apologetic smile. "You can ask Bella, I thought you were going to shoot me. That would've been much worse," he chuckled. I nodded in agreement.

"I'm still considering it," Charlie said wryly, but the corner of his mouth twitching up into an almost smile gave him away.

"Chief Swan, now that everything's out in the open, may I be so bold as to ask for a fresh start? I love Bella. More than words can possibly describe and I would really, really love it if her father didn't hate me." Edward laid himself bare before my father, oozing remorse and humility.

"I don't hate you, Edward. I don't like you, but I could never hate someone that has saved Bella's life as many times as you apparently have…No matter how much I might hate all this vampire stuff...undead is infinitely better than actually dead," Charlie lamented.

"For now, why don't you just call me Charlie? Now that you're through with all the lies, I'll find out for myself whether there's anything about you worth liking. It's not like you're going anywhere, right, Gramps?" Charlie finally smiled a real smile, amused by his jab at Edward's age.

Edward flashed my favorite crooked smile and nodded, "Right. Thank you, Charlie."

As heartwarming as it had been to see Edward and Charlie form the beginnings of a bond, I was very nearly approaching the end of my control in the close confines of my father's little living room with the appetizing heartbeats of both my father and stepmother thudding in my ears.

Edward.

Edward instantly turned toward me, and I casually laid a hand over the front of my throat to let him know I'd had enough. He nodded in understanding and stood up too fast. Sue startled as Charlie's head snapped back, his eyes trying in vain to follow the flash of movement.

Edward smiled a little sheepishly. "On that note, Bella and I, unfortunately, need to get going…"

"But we promise to visit again real soon!" I added cheerily, ecstatic that we actually could visit. I stood up next to Edward preparing to make our exit.

Charlie nodded and heaved himself to his feet with an audible grunt so he could see us off. Sue got to her feet as well.

"I'd shake your hand, but…" Charlie nodded at his swollen right hand with the ziplock bag of melting ice balanced over the top of his wrist.

Edward nodded in understanding and made a pained face. "You should probably get that looked at."

"Ok kiddo." Charlie turned to me. "Get outta here, but come back soon. I'm holding you to that!" Charlie said in his authoritative cop voice. Thankfully, he didn't raise his arms for another hug because my control didn't have another hug left in me.

"Can I just do one quick thing before we go?" Edward asked me with a pleading expression.

"Uh, sure, I guess," I nodded, not having any idea what he had in mind.

He took me by the hand and nearly sprinted up the stairs.

Edward twisted the doorknob and flung the door open, revealing my old room, just as it had always been, but under a thin layer of dust.

Edward inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled with a loud "Ahhhh!" at the sweet, floral scent that still hung heavily in the air. Edward wore a wide, nostalgic grin as he threw himself down on the bed and buried his face in the pillows.

"Huh! So that's what I smelled like," I said absently as I sniffed the air. "Tasty," I giggled the word at the same time as he moaned, "Heaven." His deeply satisfied voice was muffled by the pillows. With his face burrowed in the linens, he looked like a mountain lion who'd just been given catnip.

I laid down next to him on the small bed and he rolled over on his back, pulling me into his arms. Edward sighed contentedly.

"By the way, after hugging Charlie, I can officially say...what the hell is the matter with you? Falling in love with a human! Are you insane?" I playfully shoved him.

Edward laughed exuberantly. "Utterly crazy about you, Mrs. Cullen," he murmured, kissing my hair. And then after a comfortable beat of silence he sighed and said, "Ok, we can go now. I know you're hurting." Kissing my hair one last time, he moved to stand up.

Edward extended his hand to help me off the bed. As we rejoined Charlie and Sue downstairs to say our final goodbyes before hitting the road, Edward's head snapped toward the door.

"You've got to be kidding me!" he groaned in a sudden change of disposition.

"What?" I asked, alarmed. Charlie and Sue's quizzical expressions seemed to mirror my own.

Edward's expression turned dark. "Jacob Black is outside. He wants to speak with you." My eyes widened in shock.

"Ha! Just like old times," Charlie guffawed.

*A/N* THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREEEEE! I had so much fun writing this chapter! I really wrestled with whether or not to let Charlie hit Edward. And then I thought about Edward being the masochistic, self-loathing guy that he is. He probably wanted Charlie to hit him just as much as Charlie did, and so he let it happen, hoping against logic and reason that it could hurt in some way. That's how I imagined that going.

I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this one. Did I nail it? What would you have done differently? I wonder what trouble that pesky Jake will stir up! Bwahahaha Thanks for reading and reviewing! Til next time, lovelies.