AN: I own the plot and the characters belong to Stephenie someone that's not me. But we all knew that anyway.
So this one is also unbeta'd. Deal with it, I do.
I know this seems like it skipped and it did but don't worry Jasper's memories will help fill in the blanks, including blanks no one knew about….*evil laugh*
Chapter 9:
It was Christmas and we returned to Forks to spend it with Charlie and Spirit. Spirit was fully grown now and a beautiful golden Labrador. He greeted us all with short yips and attempted licks to the face while jumping on us. Charlie greeted everyone with hugs or handshakes and then the others left to set up at the Cullen home since the Chief didn't have enough room for all of us.
Bella and I were staying with Charlie though and he was very excited. He had redone Bella's room this fall to look more like a guest room than a child's room and it was very classy, done in browns and creams. The old purple comforter was gone and the pictures Bella made as a child no longer adorned the walls.
"Wow, dad! This looks really nice. I can't believe you did this." Bella looked around the room as I set the luggage by the closet door.
"I'm glad you like it, honey. I think you'll find it's not the only change in the house. I hope you like the rest." Charlie smiled and left us to get settled.
Bella turned to me, "What did he mean?"
"I guess you didn't notice when we came in but every room has been redone, the kitchen and living area are both painted with new furniture. He's been busy. I'd even guess that the bathroom and his room have been redone also." I moved to sit on the new queen sized bed, smiling up at my beautiful woman.
"This is weird. My dad spent his whole life keeping things exactly as they were when Renee left. I wonder what changed?"
I shrugged in response. I really didn't know why Charlie began fixing the house up.
A couple hours later we began our vacation, Bella freshened up in the newly remodeled bathroom that now displayed a cheery yellow color and brown accents. This theme seemed to be throughout the whole house. The new kitchen was yellow with brown cupboards and a lighter brown kitchen table with matching chairs. The walls in the living room were now cream with brown furniture and brass tables with glass tops. It all looked very nice but not overly expensive. I'd say Charlie has been busy since we were in school.
Rose, Emmett, Peter, and Char, returned to Charlie's where two large sofas and two recliners greeted us, giving us plenty of room to sit without bringing in kitchen chairs or sitting on the floor. A medium size Christmas tree adorned the corner with red and gold decorations and already many presents already sitting underneath.
"The house looks great, dad!" everyone commented or agreed similarly with Rose's statement.
"Thank you, kids. If it wasn't for you I would have never made these changes, but it was time. I know Christmas isn't for a few days yet, but I have an announcement, well it's also a Christmas gift for myself. I hope no one will be angry."
Everyone's eyebrows creased down just a little in concern as Charlie made his preamble. He looked at each of us and Bella was obviously curious as she leaned forward looking at Charlie while still scratching behind Spirit's ears.
Charlie took a moment to gather his nerves and we just waited, he didn't need my influence, he was set on making his announcement.
"Well…" he paused and looked around again with a hesitant smile stopping on me. I raised my eyebrows at him indicating I was curious and he should proceed.
"I guess, I don't know if Jasper told you all or not but he's given me a time limit to be with Bella."
Everyone else did know but Bella gasped and looked at me in shock. Charlie surveyed the rest of the group and nodded noting that they were not all shocked.
"Jasper! What did you do?" Bella accused and then looked at everyone else. "You all knew? No one told me! And you all knew? What is going on?!" Her voice was getting higher as her nerves grew. I knew I had to stop her before she said something she shouldn't.
"Bella, wait okay. Let me explain?" she settled for a moment and glared at me. The fire in her eyes was burning at my heart, I hated hurting her. "It was a talk I had with your dad before you graduated. We had agreed, that we weren't going to mention it to you," I said and pointedly looked over at Charlie, who at least had the courtesy to look ashamed.
"Your dad did a background check on the Cullens and realized we don't have a background. He knows we're different, you know that. He asked if I was going to take you from him and I couldn't lie. I told him yes and at that time we had already decided on the two year mark," I explained.
"So…," she looked over at Charlie, "what do you know, dad?"
"I don't know much, honey. I know these people, whatever they are, aren't normal. I know they're cold and hard to the touch, they don't eat, at least not normally, and they're super rich," he grinned goofily at that. "I've come up with several theories and they all sound stupid," he blushed looking down.
"W…what theories?" Bella had to ask, she just couldn't leave him be. I sure hope she doesn't give us away I don't want to deal with another human knowing our secret.
"Well, it's all silly really. I've come up with robots, aliens, and zombies. Zombies are the least likely," Charlie blushed again and looked to his shoes in embarrassment. "I hope you're not robots, so I guess I'm going with aliens. But!" he held his hand up without taking his eyes from his shoes as everyone in the room wore smiles a mile wide at the idea that we were aliens. "But, I don't want to know." He looked up then and most of us were able to school our features into knowing smiles.
"I know my baby is going to be leaving me. Jasper has assured me that you know whatever it is that's going on and that you are okay with it. I want to make sure you make the right choice, Bella. It seems like this choice is permanent. And I don't have any control over it. I don't want to lose you, again."
Bella's eyes began to mist as Rosalie and Charlotte snuggled a little closer to their men, everyone understanding how much Bella was truly going to give up to be with me.
"Dad…" Bella started but again Charlie held his hand up and cleared his throat of the emotion that was threatening to overtake him at the thought of losing his daughter.
"To get on with my announcement. I realize I have two years well we're probably down to 1.5 now and I haven't gotten to hardly see Bella in the last 6-7 months, due to your travel's with Jasper and then college. Since you've all decided to go to college on the other side of the country, I've decided to join you."
"What do you mean join us?" Emmett asked, as his arm was lazily wrapped around Rose's shoulders. Spirit had moved on to visit with him, and Rose was trying not to be upset or wary as this conversation progressed but I could feel both coming from her.
"I'm selling my house and I'm moving out east to be with all of you. Now don't worry, I'm not asking to live with you, I'll find my own place, so you kids can still be kids or whatever you are and not have to worry about me. I just don't want to waste my last 18 months or so with my daughter or any of you. I've come to love you all as my children and I want my life with you for as long as possible."
Stunned silence blanketed the room as everyone took in this information. Not only was Charlie accepting that we aren't normal, we're taking his daughter away in 2 years but he's also changing his whole life to be with us for as long as possible.
"How?" Bella finally squeaked out. She was beyond nervous and scared for her father, I think.
"How what?" he asked back not sure exactly what Bella wanted.
"How are you going to move? What about work? You just fixed the house us. What about this house?"
Now those were all good questions.
"Well, I've taken early retirement which I used the money to fix up the house so I could put it on the market and sell it to get my money back. The 'for sale' sign is in the garage, I didn't want you all to see it before I got a chance to explain. I was hoping one of you boys would go stick it back in the lawn out front when we got done talking."
Before anything else could be said Peter got up from his seat and went towards the garage silently. We all watched him go. He was nervous and a bit scared. I'll have to ask him about that later. Charlie looked back to me.
"He's got it. I think he needs a minute," I responded with a shrug.
"I hope my move isn't going to cause a problem for anyone."
"NO!" rang out in a loud chorus from everyone in the room. And Charlie smiled a bit at that reception.
"Like I said, I just want to be with Bella and all of you. I know my time is limited. I am not asking for help or special treatment, only that we can continue to be a family. The family I've grown to love over the last year, well almost year." Charlie blushed again and looked down.
Peter returned quietly and took his seat next to Char. "I took care of the sign. I'm sorry, Charlie. I didn't mean to make you think I was upset with you. I just needed a second to get my head together. It's never happened where we've gotten this close to an outside family. You've been very accepting of us and I apologize if I offended you."
Charlie nodded in thought. "I wasn't offended, son. Just worried that maybe you didn't want me around. Like I just told these kids before you walked back in I just want to be with my family. My family isn't here, it's where you are."
Everyone smiled and nodded.
"I also have to say that while I'm looking to spend most of my time with you all, to supplement my income I've taken a job as a security guard at the college. I start in January when the winter term starts."
I looked at Bella who was doing a wonderful fish impression and then glanced at everyone else who was in shock. Peter sat there quietly staring at his shoes with a look that told me he knows something and it isn't good.
"Umm, well… okay, dad. Do you need to stay with us until you find a place?" Rose asked, the only one of us capable of moving on to the next situation.
"I don't, but thank you, Rose. The college is going to provide me with a house until I find something of my own. I guess there are some faculty houses they use when hiring new staff and since they have one available I can have it until the end of the school year if needed. But I hope to find something on my own quicker."
"Dad?" Bella looked up at him from her hands with an expression that resembled someone who was eating a lemon, "does this have anything to do with Jack?"
My eyebrows raised in surprise, not even thinking about him. Shock and wonder came from everyone and Peter's head snapped up, apparently this was part of his issue, or he knew something along those lines.
Charlie nodded to himself for a second before he met Bella's eyes, "No, I am of course not happy about that situation since I found out about it at Thanksgiving. But I've been making these plans pretty much since Rose and Emmett left for college. I've missed you all and I want to be a part of your lives as much as possible."
Everyone settled into a silence for a few minutes before Emmett broke it the only way he knows how, "Well that's awesome, dad! What's for dinner?!" everyone giggled at him but gave Charlie a wary glance.
"Actually, I was just thinking Bella and I could order a pizza for tonight. Do you all want anything? I mean I'm not asking what you eat, but I can get several pizzas or…?" he just shrugged, not sure what else to say.
"No dad, that's okay, we take care of ourselves, you and Bella enjoy your dinner," I answered able to feel the tension without the need of any supernatural help.
Charlie nodded and headed towards the phone. Bella looked around the house and then got up to inspect some of the finer details, the kitchen the little bathroom downstairs. Everyone else sat in an awkward silence, contemplating the knowledge that Charlie has about us. I for one wasn't worried and I was glad he'll be moving closer to Bella. I really do want her to maintain that relationship as long as possible.
I remember what us leaving did to her, how she looked that first day I returned. I shuddered to think about it even now. Perfect recall was not all it was cracked up to be at times.
She blossomed into a beautiful young hardheaded woman and she was all mine. I smiled letting the memories fall away and watched as she returned to her seat next to me.
"So what do you think?" I glanced around taking it all in again.
"It's nice, I wish he would have done it while he owned it, now he can't even enjoy it. Wait…" she looked towards Charlie who was conveniently returning to his seat with us.
"Dad? What are you going to do with all this new furniture if you are selling the house?" Bella was certainly astute, I hadn't even thought of that one.
"I'm selling it fully furnished. The relator said sometimes that's helpful but really I'm hoping the guy that is moving to this area to take my job will want it. He hasn't seen it yet but I know he'll need a place to live. So I'll leave it on the market until it sells but I figured maybe he could take it."
"You already have a replacement," Char asked and leaned forward with interest.
Charlie smiled warmly at her, "I know this is all news to you but it's been in the works for months." We all nodded at his response.
Three days later and Christmas Eve was here. Emmett and Bella were by far the most excited. I couldn't wait to have Bella open my gift and to be honest I was excited for hers also. She now accepted gifts with good grace and was usually happy to receive them. So many things had changed in the last year.
I wanted to focus on the here and now but it was difficult as I remembered all that has happened. Bella finally came out of her depressed state, her cocktail that fueled her bubble made itself known in some of the worst ways, Fuckward and ma and pa Cullen were the bane of both our existences and then we finally had the summer.
We travelled around, doing what we wanted when we wanted and I got to show her how love and life could be. It was the best summer ever!
School started without too much fanfare but that's when we met Jack. And as he and Bella became closer, he developed an unhealthy admiration for me. I sighed, if only I hadn't let her befriend him. No that's not right. I have no control over her friendships. Maybe I should have just kept my distance.
I growled under my breath as I thought about what could have happened to Bella. He was so close to her, he began leaving inappropriate gifts everywhere for me. The underwear was by far the worst but I had received pictures of myself in the mail. I received a doll with the eyes missing, which was extremely creepy. And last but not least pictures of his manly parts, ick, showed up in my backpack. One of my sweatshirts went missing from the library and I'm fairly sure he took it because I could smell him nearby but I'm just going to leave that one alone. I don't really want to think about what he's doing with my clothes.
I probably would have thrown all the stuff he sent away but Charlie was there the night of the underwear incident and we didn't keep it from him. He insisted that I file a police report. I didn't have the shorts anymore but I let them know about them. Everything else was handed over to the police and a permanent restraining order was put in place for me. However, they would not include Bella on it as he had not "done" anything to her. I disagree, but it worked to report Jack anyway.
When Jack's dad found out what Jack was doing and specifically about the restraining order, he promptly brought him home and let us know he would not be back. I'm not sure if that ruins Jack's future plans and I don't really care. I'm just glad he's gone. If it wasn't for Charlie I probably would have just killed him and dealt with the repercussions as they came.
To say that phone call was a surprise is an understatement. Jack senior phoned us and apologized for his son's behavior. "We thought he was over this kind of behavior but I guess he's not. He won't be a problem anymore. I would appreciate it if you let me know if he tries to contact you again." As I recall that conversation I began to wonder if Jack was ever the athlete popular guy he made himself out to be. Now that I think about it, he had never tried to get us to go to a game and I never saw him in a Jersey or even with any other football players. He would have been friends with them. He wouldn't have needed Bella's friendship as much. Same thing with the frat house that Bella and I went to at the start of the semester. He pretended to be a member there.
How blind can I be? I literally blinked a few times in the dark and even rubbed my eyes a little. I can't believe I never realized everything he told us was a lie. I guess I got so used to using my gift that now when I quit using it I can't read people at all. Not only that but I never sensed deception from him until the end. Did he truly believe his lies? It's the only way to get around my empathy, for a human especially.
I shook my head to clear it, it's nearly sun up on Christmas Eve and I just want to focus on that and my beautiful woman. I snuggled closer to her and began kissing her neck to wake her up. The bed Charlie had invested in wasn't very comfortable and it wasn't as big as the king we had at the dorms but a queen was decent and I intended to christen it this morning.