Arizona General Hospital - Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America
Bella lay on the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. Visiting hours were over for the day, so she had finally been left alone. She was sure that Edward would be back shortly, sneaking in past the nurses, but for now she was alone. And for some reason, she felt better for it. She didn't have to worry about pretending to not be in pain for Edward or being the calming influence for Renee or worry about making things better with Charlie.
God. Charlie. The things that she had said to him trying to make him let go of her. Was it really only less than a week ago that she had thrown those awful words at him?
Bella ran into the house, slamming the door behind her.
"Just leave me alone Edward!"
She tried to run up the stairs past Charlie, but she wasn't fast enough. He caught her arm, spinning her to look at him.
"Bella! What happened? Did he hurt you? What's going on?"
"He didn't do anything! Don't blame him for this! I just can't do this! I can't be trapped here like Renee was!"
Wrenching her arm free, she ran up the stairs, slamming the bedroom door behind her. For a moment, she simply rested against the door, fighting the sick feeling in her stomach at the memory of Charlie's face. He wasn't buying it. He knew her better than Renee, he could read her better than Renee. If she was to get out of here with minimal fuss, if she was to keep him safe, she was going to have to hurt him. She was going to have to tear open the wounds that Brian had left on the both of them.
With a rush of cold air, Edward was there, throwing things into her bag, moving faster than her eyes could follow.
"Bella, we have to go!" he urged, worry coating his voice.
"It's not going to work. Charlie's not going to let me go."
He paused for a second, staring off in the distance, listening into Charlie's thoughts she knew.
"I can make him let me go. But…you can't be here for this. The things I'm going to have to say to him…they need to be between the two of us."
"Bella…"
"I won't tell him what's going on. But these things are going to hurt him, and you know how he is. He's a proud man. Please don't take that away from him."
Edward was reluctant, she could tell, but at last he nodded.
"We'll be running a perimeter, so James shouldn't get through. If you take any longer than 5 minutes, we are coming in. Understand?"
Meeting his eyes, she nodded. The sick feeling in her stomach increased. Charlie was going to hate her for this. She was going to hate herself for this. But she would do it. To keep him safe.
With a kiss to her forehead, Edward was gone, the bag he packed pressed into her arms. Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves, before throwing open her door and running out.
Charlie was still at the bottom of the stairs, a look of worry on his face.
"Bella! What's going on? Why do you have a bag packed?"
Hoping that Edward kept his word and that none of the Cullen's were listening, she reached out and wrapped herself around Charlie, taking a deep breath of the scent that had always meant safety to her.
"Daddy…I need to go. I love you for everything you've done for me. But I can't stay here. Not when you know things about Brian that you aren't sharing with me. You're keeping secrets just like he did. Just like Rome did. And that never ends well. You promised me that you would never hurt me the way that he did. But you are. So I'm leaving. Because I won't let myself be hurt the way I was before."
Tears clogged her voice, and she could feel the old scars tearing open. One look at Charlie's face had new wounds opening up as well. It had only been a guess that he was in contact with Brian. But now she knew it was true. Once again, the people she loved were keeping secrets from her, distancing themselves from her.
"Bella…I swear to you, I never meant to hurt you. We…I only wanted to keep you safe! You don't have to leave, I swear! I haven't talked to him since you came here. I'll tell you everything, just don't go!"
Stepping out of his arms, Bella shook her head. She edged around him toward the door, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. Charlie looked as though she was tearing out his heart. Oh god, how did Brian do this? Walk away from someone he loved while they were begging him to stay?
"It's no use Charlie. You're just like him. And I will never forgive you for that!"
Running out the door, the last thing she saw was the utter devastation on Charlie's face. Jumping in her truck, she drove as fast as she could with tears blinding her. When Edward slid inside the cab and wrapped an arm around her waist, she let him take over the wheel and slide her to the passenger side.
"Oh god! What have I done? What have I done?"
She could only babble through her tears, clinging to Edward's shoulder as he pushed her ancient truck faster than was probably safe.
"He'll forgive you Bella. But I need you to pull yourself together, okay? We have to focus."
Wiping her eyes, she nodded. She had to survive this, if only to have the chance to apologize to Charlie.
Calling him Daddy as she left had probably been cruel, but it had been the only way she had to hint that there was more going on than she could say. They hadn't gotten a chance to talk yet, just the two of them. She didn't want to get into a whole discussion when they could be overheard or interrupted. Especially if Charlie admitted to being in contact with Brian. She could vaguely remember a large Samoan man getting into a shouting match with Charlie when she first came out of surgery. She was sure that she had heard Brian's name mentioned.
Sighing, she shifted in the bed, cursing her broken leg the entire time. She had been in the hospital for 4 days at this point, and the doctors were saying that she could be there for another week if they had to perform surgery on her leg again. Though at least being here meant that she had time to herself, if only for a little while. She could already tell, when she got home, Edward and Alice were never going to leave her alone.
Rio de Janerio
They had actually done it. They had beaten Reyes. Meeting Dom's eyes through the windshield, Brian stepped out of the car.
"Thought I told you to go?"
"Wasn't about to leave family behind again."
Jogging over, Brian checked Dom over. Watching Hobbs shoot Reyes in the head was satisfying in a visceral sort of way. This man had threatened his family, had tried to kill Mia and his unborn child. He couldn't feel any guilt over his death. Though the deaths of the cops and bystanders were probably going to haunt him for a while. Even if the cops had been dirty, that didn't mean that they all deserved to die the way that they had.
"It's a hell of a mess." Hobbs said, strolling over to them, Elena at his side.
"You know I can't let you two go. I ain't made that way."
At Hobbs's words Brian got a sinking feeling in his gut. They had barely made it out of the fight with Hobbs before, and both he and Dom were in rough shape after that drive. A quick glance at his brother showed the same determination that Brian knew was in his own eyes. Friend or not, injured or not, they were going to do their very best to get out of this. To get back to Mia and the others.
"The way I see it, you've earned yourself 24 hours. But the money stays."
Brian could only laugh a little on the inside, throwing a smirking glance at the safe. Hobbs could keep this safe. Even if he discovered it was empty before the 24 hours were up, his code wouldn't let him go back on his word.
Before he and Dom drove off, Brian made one final request of Hobbs.
"Hey Luke? I know I don't have the right to ask, but I'm asking anyway. Keep an eye on Bella for me? Let her know I love her?"
At Hobb's nod, Brian reached into the car and grabbed a package that he tossed over to the larger man.
"That's for her and Charlie. Nothing illegal I promise."
Climbing in the car, Brian glanced over at Dom, giving him a nod. It was time to meet up with the rest of their family.
"She'll be okay Bri. Hobbs said that she was stable when he saw her, and Tej said the hospital was releasing her tomorrow."
"I know. I just hope that Hobbs actually gives them the burner."
"Even if he doesn't, Tej said that Suki is willing to ship them anything we send her."
"You sure you're okay with me sending them tickets to come visit when we get settled? Even though Charlie's a cop?"
"They're your family Brian. No matter what they do for a living."
Pulling up to the warehouse that the crew was meeting them at, the two men smiled at each other. It was time to get paid.
Somewhere in California
Charlie and Bella had been driving for a couple of days. The Cullen's had wanted to pay for the two of them to fly home with them, but they had decided that they needed the time to figure things out and spend together, just father and daughter.
At the moment they were at an In-n-Out just off of I-5, enjoying the California specialty. Both of their phones were off and there was nothing but sunshine for miles around. It was as alone as they were going to get.
Bella knew that Edward was shadowing them as they drove, keeping an eye on her. It annoyed her somewhat his need to constantly keep her in sight. She could understand it on some level, but the fact was that she had been taking care of herself practically her whole life. Sure Brian and then Renee and Charlie had been there, but she had been mostly responsible for herself. So being treated like she was a helpless damsel didn't always sit right with her.
Sighing, Charlie balled up the burger wrapper and tossed it into the dedicated trash bag on the floor.
"So, we going to talk about this?"
Taking a deep breath, she turned to face him as much as possible with her leg in the cast. She knew that nothing less than total honest was going to work right now.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it, any of it. But you weren't going to let me go, and I had to keep you safe. I know you love me and would never leave me the way that Brian and Rome did. I just…had to make you let me go."
"And why couldn't you just say that? Just ask me to let you go?"
"Because…you still would have been in danger. Still been a target. If they thought that I was leaving you because I was mad and hurt and didn't want to be there, it would make them leave you alone."
"Them? You were running from someone? Someone did this to you? Who was it? Braga, Verone, Tran? "
Charlies' voice was raised in anger and fear. Someone had come after Bella and she hadn't trusted him. Visions of the Trans from LA or Verone's men from Miami or Braga's from Mexico danced through his head. The whole point of changing Bella's name and erasing her background was to keep Brian's past from impacting her. And know he was learning that he had failed!
"No! No it wasn't anyone connected to Brian! I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught the wrong person's attention. And when Edward and his family made it clear that I was protected, it turned it into a game for him."
"Getting back to the fact that the Cullen's put you in danger, why couldn't you trust me to keep you safe? If some serial killer stalker had you in his sights, why not trust me, the chief of police, to keep you safe? Why trust the Cullen's?"
Biting her lip, Bella looked out the window. How could she explain that there was no way for Charlie to fight against this threat? That he couldn't protect her because he was only human?
"Bella? Look at me."
Turning to look Charlie in the eye, she could see a realization come across his face.
"He was like them wasn't he? A vampire. That's why their protection of you set him off. That's why you trusted them to keep you safe."
"What? Vampire…How did...what are you…What?"
Stuttering, Bella could only stare at Charlie, shock written over her every feature. How did he know about vampires? About the Cullen's?
"Bella, I was a cop in Los Angeles for 10 years. I know all about the nightlife that exists. Hell, one of my best informants was a part of it. Even had him keep an eye on you and Brian when I was stuck on cases a few times and your mom had a new guy around. You think I didn't recognize what the Cullens were the second I met them?"
"Is that what happened to those guys that would hit her and Brian? They would be there one night and then just disappear, not come back. Brian figured that you were threatening them, but you were feeding them to a vampire?!"
"No comment. And you still haven't answered my question. Was the guy that did this to you a part of the nightlife?"
"Why do you keep calling it that? And yes, James was nomad vampire."
"I call it that so people don't hear us talking about mythical creatures. Now, tell me what you know about this James and how you got involved with the Cullens."
Bella could tell that Charlie was serious about this, so she told him everything she knew. About Laurent, Victoria, about how they met and what the Cullen's had said about them. About figuring out what the Cullens were and her interactions with them.
As she talked, she could feel a weight removing itself from her shoulders. Every secret she had kept from Charlie over the past 6 months spilled from her lips, every fear that she had choked back and buried was brought forth. Finally, she had someone to share everything with, someone who would run away screaming or call her crazy.
It felt wonderful.