For once, Charlie does not sleep in. He doesn't usually sleep in, due to work, but he does wake up earlier than he usually does when he sleeps in. He specifically made sure that he would enter work at a later time today than his established time. He walks downstairs in his pajamas, groggily rubbing at his eye with one hand and covering up a humongous yawn with the other. His eyes water slightly at the force of it.

Even through the deep penetrating fog of sleep, he realizes something as he is passing through the living room. He steps into his slippers and sees a pair of shoes that are most decidedly not his.

Almost comically, it clicks. Oh yeah, Bella's here now.

When confronted with something new, his brain takes the most obvious way, the path of least resistance, so to say. Well, time to make breakfast for two then.

He would've picked her up himself, he reminisces. But as it was, a week ago or so, he mentioned that Bella was staying in Washington to the Webers and they subtly commented on the fact that Angela was heading over to Port Angeles that same day. What a coincidence! He guessed that they must've mentioned as such to their daughter because the next day, Bella gave him a call, telling him to not worry about picking her up, that Angela would drop her off. Seeing as the two friends had not seen each other since the last school break, he agreed and awaited her arrival with reruns.

And that's just the kind of man Charlie is. Straightforward, frank, and uncomplicated. Ordinary. Well, almost. Bella would probably call him chill. Still, he's glad that Bella's mostly picked up these traits from him. He's in the kitchen when he really thinks about Bella's presence here. He's glad. He is sure Spoons is as well.

Speaking of which, where did that cat go? He whistles lightly, heading over to where his bowl is and pouring some dry food out for him. He shakes it once before setting it down and moves to get ingredients out from the kitchen to cook breakfast. Actually...with eggs and ham in hand, he sets them down on the counter to make coffee, the most important thing. He powers up the simple machine and pushes some buttons to get it to work. Now that that's done, he resumes his morning task.

He shreds the ham into the pan and waits for it to fry. Once it is frying, he adds the multiple eggs. He is hovering the pan above the stove, reaching over with his other hand to find a plate when he hears a thump near the stairs. He glances over briefly to confirm his working theory that Bella skipped the last step and jumped, not that she tripped.

"Hey kiddo, breakfast is ready." He finally finds another plate and more or less splits the well scrambled eggs evenly between the two plates. One for him, one for Bella.

"Ooh, thanks Dad. Is there any juice?" She's walking over to the fridge when she asks. Since she got home late last night, looking into the fridge was not high on her list of 's just opened the door when Charlie speaks.

"There's apple juice in there but I bought some orange juice yesterday. I forgot to put it in the fridge." His voice is quieter at the end of his sentence and it makes Bella want to laugh. She doesn't. Instead she smiles widely and just takes out the apple juice to pour herself a glass. Unlike his voice, hers is scratchy with sleep. She had woken up around the time when Charlie had started the coffee maker. With just Charlie cooking in the kitchen, she could hear the machine from up stairs. However, she soon lost the sound amongst the white noise of the morning ambience. She stayed another 5 minutes in bed, thinking and thinking, about nothing in particular but just listening to everything. Her breathing, the feeling of the warm covers against her cool skin. She even held prolonged eye contact with Spoons (a staring contest of sorts), up until Charlie shook his bowl and he zoomed off.

With lethargy deep in her muscles and bones, she halfheartedly struggles to take out the jug. She places it on the counter and then hunts around the cabinets and the jungle of wares until she finds a suitable glass. She fills it about halfway with apple juice and fills the rest with cold water from the sink filter. She admits the filter makes things way easier. Back in Phoenix, they don't have one. Instead, they usually fill up big old water gallons. The really big three and five gallon ones. And a shit ton of water bottles in the fridge. And there always, always always has to be ice in the freezer. Without it, absolute hell would be a very possible reality in the suffocating summertime heat.

Still, she reaches into the freezer and pulls out two ice cubes. More out of habit than anything else, since the weather is delightful here. But the second she downs some iced juice, she feels slightly more refreshed. She leaves her half full glass back on the table and takes the proffered plate Charlie left near the sink. She takes her seat across from him in their small table. They eat in a comfortable silence until they both finish. Bella slightly more faster than him. And as she takes the dirty dishes to the sink, she tells him, "I'll take care of the dishes."

He hums in appreciation. He goes upstairs to retrieve his gun and badge and returns quickly. He's just in front of the door when he turns to her. "I'm off to work. You'll be fine right?"

This is a new situation after all.

"Yes, Dad. I'll be fine. I'll probably watch tv or read some books or walk around or something." She can take entertain herself for a while. She's a big girl now. "I can go grocery shopping on Friday," she finishes, never turning away from the sink and the soapy suds.

He leaves with a click on the door and a 'be safe', thrown over his shoulder. And Bella finds herself alone, with only Spoons for company. Seriously, where did that cat go? She whistles and decides against shaking his empty food bowl but otherwise ignores him when he fails to show up. Maybe he's gone outside...

When the dishes are all clean, she heads upstairs, intent on cleaning up her room. She does her bed quickly and swepts her shoes into the closet in favor of wearing flip flops while she cleans. She proceeds to empty the rest of her suitcase. She'd gotten the main stuff out yesterday (clothes and toiletries) but the important things are still inside. She unzips the zipper on a small pocket to pull out her charging cables for her phone and Nintendo. Oh, and battery pack. Or is it phone bank? Battery bank? Either way, she remembers it's still in her smaller rucksack. Once she finds it, she gathers up all of her cables and electronic-related supplies and shoves them in her first drawer for easy access. Someday she will clean and sort things out in there. Today is not that day, however.

She continues on for a while until, this time for sure, her suitcase is empty. The only thing she doesn't know what to do with are the three books on her bed. Her bookshelf is kinda full and is already precariously balancing more books than it probably should. So her solution for now is to neatly place them on her desk. That's as good as it gets it seems. Maybe another small bookshelf would help. There's plenty of space in her room, compared to the one back in Phoenix.

She stands in the middle of the room, surveying her progress. Then she takes a few steps towards her bed and flops onto it. She rolls until she is on her back. Her eyes remain closed while her arms are sprawled out on the mattress. She stays this way until she thinks of something else to do. When she finally does, she picks up one of said precariously dangling books on her shelf and tucks it under her arm. She glances down at herself briefly and decides that her jogger and tee shirt pjs are just fine. She goes downstairs and pulls out a blanket from the cupboard under the stairs. She deposits all this outside, making sure that the blanket is evenly spread out so as to avoid any uncomfortable bumps. Then she dives in house for a quick trip in search of snacks and a water bottle.

Satisfied, she goes back outside to read in the comfortable weather of Washington. This is something she either has to time very carefully or she straight up can't do in Phoenix. Damn heat, she thinks with a scowl. She really can't do this over there. And she sure as hell isn't going to get up at the butt crack of dawn to walk around her neighborhood, so the evening hours just barely suffice.

Though it's this very same weather difference that gets to her the next day. She feels sick as a dog but that's about it. She's sniffling and has a terrible headache and mopes about the house, lamenting the fact that she also forgot to put the orange juice in the fridge the day before. She feels like crap basically. Or dead, that's gotta be the same right? Thankfully she feels better two days later, on Wednesday.

And thus, most of the week goes by in a similar fashion. Charlie's gone by the time she wakes up, which is not surprising since she's not much of a morning person. But she always has dinner with him in the evenings, granted that there's no pressing police work to be done. She reads outside or watches tv in her room. She even walks around the edge of the forest in an attempt to reacquaint herself with the majestic beauty that is there. Spoons accompanies her whenever he senses that she could possibly be doing something exciting. He leaves after she settles into whatever she does, except for the walks. He stays for those.

By Friday, she is ready to drag Angela into grocery shopping with her. She'd already given her best friend a heads up about her plans. So on that Friday morning, she wakes up at a slightly more reasonable hour and changes into something equally as presentable; no need to dress like a bum. The citizens of Forks will witness that in due time. Angela calls her at some point to give her estimated time of arrival.

She arrives some 10 minutes later in her little white car. Seeing that Bella is sitting outside, waiting for her, she merely honks twice and waits for her companion to enter the car.

Bella stands from her spot and saunters over to her side of the car. She tries the door but finds it locked. Her lips move downwards and she jiggles the handle a couple of times (in rapid succession, the way an impatient child might) to get Angela's attention. She hears the flick of the locks disengaging in the car and finally sits down inside.

She leans her head on the headrest and turns to Angela with a pout, "That was rude." She was referencing to the car horn, she was already outside after all. Actually she was talking about the car lock too, that was just cruel. Although, if she had a vehicle, she too would lock the doors and play around with people.

"Well, it's not like you're particularly polite either."

There comes an exaggerated loud gasp from Angela's right and she briefly wonders how Bella didn't choke on the air. She's already out of the gravel driveway and making her way back onto the road.

"Angela!" Bella practically gasps the name out and she's quick to retort, "I'm nothing, if not polite!"

"Bella, that's bull and you know it." This is why they're best friends.

"Only around you." They both laugh Bella's failure to make it sound suggestive. It is still considered morning at that hour, so Angela cuts her friend some slack.

"Seatbelt."

"What?"

"Your seatbelt, you forgot it."

"Oh shit, right." She scrambles to put on the potentially life saving strip of fabric. "It's 'cause you're so distracting Ang." Her best friend snorts at this, but otherwise reminds silent and keeps a careful eye on the road.

"Good morning, by the way."

"Good morning," Angela replies cheerfully but is quick to mutter under her breath, "better late than never."

"Hey! I heard that."

"Good. Nosy."

The rest of their trip to the nearest grocery store is silent, punctured only by the constant switching of the radio channels, courtesy of one Bella Swan. She settles on one promising indie channel, but switches whenever a good song ends or there's a lull in the music thanks to advertisements.

Thankfully, they reach the grocery store before the current song ends, which prevents Bella from switching the channels again. Angela sighs in quiet relief. It'd be her turn when they finished up and returned to her house. Still, she slowly follows Bella, who's already bounded over to the shopping carts and is waiting for Angela to catch up.

"Slow poke…"

Angela ignores her and proceeds to ask, "Do you have a list?" Bella derives from their imaginary path to locate a shopping cart. They are walking through the store's now open doors, feeling the slight breeze from the air conditioner ruffle their hair. When she returns she answers the question.

"Uh.. kinda?"

"Kinda?" There's a small bit of incredulity in her voice. Just a tiny bit.

"Well, I was making the list right? But I had the tv on, and there was this really cool documentary! Did you know certain species of catfish can grow as big as grizzly bears?!"

She sounds enthusiastic about her new 'fact of the day' and Angela can't seem to scold her for it. Even less when Bella pulls out the half finished list from her pocket. She turns it over curiously in her hands, and pulls a small face at the fact that her best friend's handwriting is as shitty as ever. Still, she's somewhat and somehow versed in reading the chicken scratch that's scrawled down the page, even though she hasn't seen it for a while. One cannot simply erase that abomination from memory, she chuckles mentally.

"Okay, let's go. We'll just go through the aisles."

And so, partners in crime make their way inside to conquer the supermarket list.

Indeed, they make their way through most of the aisles until Bella remembers that she had an intriguing thought earlier. Seeing that it is (fancy) Friday, she wanted to try her hand at some new recipe. She was stuck between some really good looking Italian recipes. She had even asked Spoons for his mighty and oh so very important opinion. He just meowed and put his paw reverently on the screen when she showed him pictures. He even did his cute head tilt to show that he was utterly serious. She finally settles on shrimp scampi pasta and pats Angela's shoulder to get her attention as she scrolls down the list of ingredients on her phone.

Angela bravely volunteers to return to the fresh produce to go find the vegetables again (cloves of garlic, lemons, parsley) seeing as she knows this store way better than first timer Bella. She takes the cart with her. "I'll wait for you by the registers. The lines are starting to get long so just come find me."

"Okie doke," Bella had replied, wondering where the pasta could be located, and if they had passed the aisle already. There's some pasta at home, but seeing as it was running low, she figures she could might as well pick some more up. And she has to find the shrimp. That's easy enough, since it should be in the freezers, so she leaves it for last. Only in some crazy alternate world would the shrimp not be in the freezers.

Oh, yeah. The deli exists too, where the shrimp aren't in the freezers but on ice. Where she could also possibly get some shrimp, but no. She finds the pasta easily and moves towards the colder aisles.

"Shrimp, shrimp, shrimp," she talks to herself, pondering as to where it could possibly be. She's scouring the condensed doors and comes close to approaching a dark honey brunette and her cart. "Where is it?"

Very surprisingly, she gets a response. "The shrimp is on the other side, dear, right over there," the woman points to the other aisle across from them. Wow, she even gets explicit directions, her favorite kind. "Are you new here? I haven't seen you around."

Bella finally looks up to thank her and answer her question when she looks into striking hazel eyes, amber almost. Whoa... She blinks and quickly takes in the rest of the warm face in front of her before responding. "No, yes. Kinda. I moved here recently, I've just never been to this store specifically. Thank you for the shrimp, er.. directions. Oh, the shrimp! I have to go, thank you again."

"Good luck with your recipe."

"Thanks, thanks, I will." Bella replies even though the woman hadn't told her to do anything. If she had told her to enjoy it, that would've been the appropriate response but instead she said that. Oh jeez, this is like the time when she said you're welcome to a greeter at Kohl's who first said welcome.

The girl leaves swiftly (to the far end of the other aisle) and Esme Cullen is both amused and bemused. That was an interesting meeting, she thinks with a warm smile. She thinks of what her children would think of this strange but oddly charming child as she makes her way through the other aisles. She already picked up Emmett's ice cream.

Moved here recently...

Could this be Bella? Isabella (presumably)Swan?

Oh god, oh god... She can feel her face burning in embarrassment due to her rambling. Normally she doesn't like when random people talk to her, all they receive are short answers if she doesn't like them. But this lady just seemed so nice and inviting, somehow? Honestly she's sort of reminded of her mother, who can chat up most people. She opens the freezer door where most of the shrimp are located as she wonders if she'll run into her again. Obviously, she comes here often enough to recognize that Bella is a newcomer. Therefore, probably.

She searches the shelves of shrimp, reading carefully. The recipe had suggested using deveined and something something else shrimp. Was that something a specific size of shrimp? She can't remember from that initial skim and ends up picking the most promising bag of the seafood.

With pasta and shrimp in hand, she heads off towards where she thinks the registers are located in a somewhat fast paced stride.

She spots Angela easily enough (it helps that Angela had spotted her and waved) and assists in loads the groceries onto the conveyor belt when it's their turn to do so. She pays with money that was from the grocery jar. And then they go through the trouble of having to load everything back into their cart. Without breaking the fragile things preferably. They roll away, go outside, and search for Angela's car.

Well, Bella does anyways since she forgot to check which lane they had parked in. Seeing that Angela kinda looks like she knows what she's doing, she blindly follows after her.

"I think we managed to get everything," Angela starts off once they turn on the car. Bella just nods, quite a few times, slowly. She's thinking of how they have to wait for the a.c. to stop blowing out Satan's currents from hell back at home. And the seatbelts are too fucking hot to even consider touching for an extended period of time. She smiles slightly at her simple thoughts of comparison. And like a car, her mind also switches gear. Quickly.

Or is a bike actually? That switches gears?

Either way, she says to Angela, "Let's go get Starbucks."

"Only if you're paying."

"Of course I'm paying, who do you think I am?"

"Bella Swan, silver-tongued freeloader."

"Hey!" She yells in mild protest. She thinks about potentially making an attempt at a dirty joke with that tongue comment but doesn't think it'll work as effectively as other, well known jokes. She gets an unexpected slap on her arm. She turns her head slowly and blinks, for dramatic effect, before asking, "What was that for?"

"You've got this look on your face. Like right before you say something dirty…"

"You didn't even look this way!" It's true, Angela was carefully keeping her eye on the road. Her friend was such a good driver.

"I didn't have to."

Bella pouts at the comment though it's probably true. They make their way to Starbucks and then to Bella's house, singing songs that they know on the radio at the top of their lungs. They are both laughing by the end of it due to purposeful attempts at singing awfully whenever they don't know a song. They try to outdo the other with awful renditions. This is why their friendship works.

They unload the groceries, making a competition of sorts. It's one where they see who can carry the most weight in groceries. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, it's Bella who wins (by default since Angela gave up early on).

Once the groceries are all put away in the proper locations, Angela flops onto the couch in the living room. Bella follows short after, momentarily jolting her friend with her weight. They turn on the tv and they talk mindlessly for a few hours. Sometimes about the television characters, other times about stuff that they still need to catch up on. The desire to share what the other has missed is almost tangible in the air. And other times, they say nothing at all simply enjoying the silence and each other's company.

Until Angela leaves. She gets a call from her mother about coming home soon. "Duty calls," she says and starts her car once she is inside it. She leaves with a wave and Bella is left alone in the house with only an incredibly vague notion of how much time has passed. It's mildly dark outside, but that's to be expected since there isn't as much sun here as in Arizona.

Sure, it's nice outside. But she could read for hours inside on natural sunlight alone. That's how sunny good old Arizona is. Still, she'd take reduced hours of sunlight over the hot as Satan's breath temperatures anytime. Everytime.

It's still early enough, and Angela's mother's call reminded Bella that she was starting to get kinda hungry. So she starts cooking her fancy meal. She's used to making big portions so she wonders if maybe her hand slipped too much for this recipe when she's finished cooking. There is enough food for plenty of leftovers for both herself and Charlie. He happens to arrive just as she's serving her own plate so she prepares one for him too, and they enjoy a quiet dinner together. He goes to bed soon after, seeing as it was a long day at work.

Bella even slips a shrimp or two into Spoons' bowl when she's sorting out the leftovers into containers. She finishes up and the aforementioned treat is gone when she glances back down. She figures she could catch a late night show that she enjoys, like South Park, and makes a specific sound with her tongue.

Thrice.

Spoons announces his arrival by jumping onto the armrest and walking down the backrest of the couch to where she is. Though it would be remarkably easy for him to blend into the dark surroundings, Bella can see the cat clearly enough. He saunters into her open arms and soon enough, due to her relaxing ministrations, Bella can hear his soft purrs amongst the potty language emitted from the television.

The next day, and after, she continues on in her recently established routine. And one particular morning, finds herself wanting to go to the library. She realizes that she hasn't gone to the library yet. She will need to acquire a library card to check out books, but that seems simple enough. In theory. In all honesty she still has some books in her shelf that she hasn't read yet, but she is not quite in the mood for Jack London or Kurt Vonnegut.

She wants to read something science-y now. She finds an empty backpack in the supply closet to fill with books and decides to walk the entire way. She looked it up earlier and finds that the smaller library in her district is only about a mile and a half from her house, or so. There was a decimal point on Google Maps and she dismissed it. She grabs two water bottles and mentally does some quick math. It should only take her about 30 minutes if she walks at her normal leisurely pace.

Taking advantage of her empty backpack, she thinks she could jog or at least super speed walk some bits. She writes a note to Charlie in case she takes way too long at the library. That is very likely. With her blue hoodie and backpack, she lightly jogs out the door.

000

A/N - Okay so, I very suddenly have to be places I didn't think I would have to be. I shall be out of the country for about 2 weeks, and I just got some motivation after being stuck, so that sucks. Also long ass car rides suck even more. And the game of, will I or won't I have wifi sucks the most for my reading and writing habit. At least my updates seem to be every month or two, currently, thankfully. Somehow. I swear Bella and Rose will meet soon, goddamn it brain. But at least this story is different than the usual ones it seems. I really think the next chapter will be the one. I had to cut this one short because I will be very busy tomorrow and I did not want to leave cut it off abruptly. I have no idea the protocol for reviews but I really wanna respond to a few so here goes.

This one is addressing a common question, why the fuck do they eat food? Well, I really did not like the whole 'sparkly marble statue vampires' that SM used in her series. Just.. mmm.. No. So i based it off other vampire series that I've read and also took some artistic licenses with it. I've got notes and everything, so I am excited.

Lunikk - I am so glad the characters felt alive and relatable. That was my goal! This whole thing was more or less one of those, fuck it, I'm gonna do it. By it, I mean, take the setting and characters of Twilight and make it into something better. It's been years since I last saw the movies or read the books, but my vague memories of it are eh. I've read better fanfiction and I really hope this is better for whoever reads it. Your English is great, don't sweat it

WRNW9A - You are quite right, there are not a lot of Rosalie and Bella stories out there. There are some really good ones but you just have to look super hard for them. I'm just picky… but look no further because xPaige Turnerx, gh0stb0y, Beastly Redemption, and Cloud Auditore Fair have some really amazing ones. Like really. There's more obviously, those are just the top of my head. Recommend some!

gh0stb0y - I will admit that I got really super excited with your review. Like wow, the author of my favorite fic read mine? Wow, insane! There will be more familial stuff for both the Cullens and the Swans, I did a shit ton of research and notes to make it all flow. Ish? Gotta write the romance first though… SPOONS. He's amazing. One of those what if questions that I decided to answer myself.

Thank you all for favoriting and following and most of all! Reviewing! They literally make my day and I fangirl and spam my friend with news of any reviews and they really motivate me to write more. Not in the 'review for chapter' way, but in the 'oh wow I should probably go back to writing bc I don't wanna leave this hanging!' And y'all are just so nice? Amazing. I really am glad that I started this project and decided that the internet needed more gay stuff. Also it's midnight so and it's a busy day today. I'll get back to writing in about two weeks. And we'll see when the next update is.