~ Forks, Washington - August 16, 2004 ~
I darted out of the barn and stood in the line of woods just by the Mitchell's farm. Darkness had now descended and I was well hidden. The emergency workers grabbed their cases and ran towards the barn. It would be only a few more seconds before they found the Chief.
From inside the barn, I heard Chief Swan's voice speaking into the dark barn.
"Edward, I hope that you can hear me. Please stay. We'll figure something out." The Chief paused. He could see flashlights coming towards him. "I hope you stay, but if your leave, know that your secret will be safe."
I took a long loop around Forks to get back to the police station. Luckily, no one was around when I arrived. I picked up my phone from where I dropped it and left with my SUV. I was halfway home when my phone rang.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Edward? Are you okay?" Carlisle asked.
"Physically, yes. Mentally, I'm a mess." I answered honestly. "I assume Alice saw what happened."
"She did. It was the only thing you could have done, son. You saved three lives tonight." Carlisle's approval of my actions helped to calm me a bit.
"Three?" I asked.
"The man that was to be arrested would have killed himself after he murdered the Chief and his deputy." He answered.
"I see. Does everyone know?" I asked as I pulled up to our family home.
"They do. They all agree that you did the right thing." Carlisle paused while he listened to Alice in the background. "Listen, Edward, I want you to do the right thing again and stay in Forks. Alice says that there is no reason for you to leave. You staged everything very well and Chief Swan has told the County Sheriff a convincing story. Rose and Emmett are already in route and should be there tomorrow morning."
"So what should I do?" I asked. I heard Carlisle and Alice speaking before she just took the phone directly from him.
"Hi, " Alice quipped. "Wow! That was intense. How did you run that fast? I mean, I never thought you would make it. In the vision I had you arrived late and…well, never mind. You made it. How it happened is not important. Anyway, you need to get cleaned up and go to the hospital to see Chief Swan. He's going to need someone to be there for him." She paused, while she spoke to Carlisle. "Oh, Carlisle wants to talk to you again. I'll see you soon."
Alice handed the phone back to Carlisle. "Edward," he answered, "we are not sure how your talk with Chief Swan is going to go, so tell him whatever you think is best. From what I've gathered from Alice, he has already witnessed a fair amount that cannot be unseen. Perhaps him knowing about us would not be such a terrible thing. Sure, the Volturi wouldn't approve, but given his proximity and friendship with the Quileutes, maybe knowing would be best. See how it goes. Whatever happens, we will deal with it…together."
Despite Alice's confidence that everything would work out, I should have left Forks. The Chief already knew enough bring down the wrath of the Volturi upon him and I…and possibly the family. However, I couldn't bring myself to leave. Part of it was Alice and her visions. But another, and perhaps stronger, part was that the Chief did not want me to go. In spite of everything he saw and experienced, the Chief asked me to stay.
I parked my SUV at the hospital and entered the emergency services entrance. The receptionist directed me to go down the hall and ask for Dr. Snow. When I reached the open area, I approached the nurse closest to me.
"Hello. I'm looking for Dr. Snow?" I asked. She pointed to a short man with his back to me. From his thoughts he was looking at Mark's chart.
"Dr. Snow?" I asked as I approached him.
The doctor turned to face me. "Yes, I am Dr. Snow. Can I help you?"
"I hope so. I am looking for Chief Swan. I was told that he was admitted here tonight."
"Are you family?" he asked.
"No, but…" I couldn't finish before he interrupted me.
"I'm sorry, only family can be sent in to see him." Dr. Snow replied as he turned away from me.
However from one of the patient rooms I heard the Chief's gruff voice. "Snow! Is that the Cullen boy I hear? You send him in!"
Dr. Snow rolled his eyes. "Go ahead," he said, obviously defeated. In his mind Dr. Snow was secretly glad the Chief would be distracted. Apparently Chief Swan was not a reasonable patient in the good doctor's eyes.
I walked through the door of the room to find the Chief reclined in a hospital bed with his rib cage bound by a compression wrap.
"Edward!" The Chief called out, but then winced in pain. His chest and ribs were very tender. "Shut that door behind you." He commanded in a softer voice that would not strain his chest.
I did as he said before turning towards him. "Hello, Chief. How're you feeling?"
"I feel like a fire hydrant that's been pissed on, to be honest." He replied with a sigh. "But I'll take it any day over the alternative." The Chief paused and reached out his hand. I placed my hand in his and he gave it a good shake that caused him to wince. "Thank you, Edward. You saved both Mark and I tonight. Thank you. And thank you for coming back."
The Chief worked hard to swallow the lump that formed in his throat. Thoughts of never seeing his daughter passed through his mind as he fought the tears collecting at the corner of his eyes. He took a couple of shallow breaths before motioning for me to sit down.
"And you can call me Charlie. I think you earned it." He said with a slight nod.
"Okay, Charlie. I'm just glad I got there in time. How…I mean…what did you tell the County Sheriff?" I reluctantly asked.
"I'll answer, but be warned. Sometime tonight I'm going to be expecting some answers from you." The Chief's gaze bored into me. He had a few theories ranging from radioactive spiders to gamma rays. Apparently the Chief had enjoyed comic books growing up.
Charlie paused and waited for an answer. "You may not like what you hear, but I will answer any question you have. You may rescind your request for me to stay afterwards."
"Fair enough," Charlie replied. "You prepared the crime scene pretty well before you left, well except for the hole in the wall, but no one asked about that." Charlie went on and told me a story similar to what I had hoped for. No one questioned Charlie's version of what happened.
"The County Sheriff had never seen a gun, explode, or implode like that before, though." Charlie added with a dry laugh. "But it was Mitchell's own testimony that tied off that thread. We he regained consciousness he started rambling about an explosion that knocked him out, and then he woke up in cuffs. No mention of you at all, which is assuming he even really saw you. You did move so damn fast."
Charlie stretched on the bed, which caused a gasp of pain, but he continued. "Mitchell's account was close enough to a gun misfiring for the Sheriff to buy it. After Mitchell woke up a bit, he confessed to everything that had happened, including knocking out Mark and shooting me. The bastard planned on killing both of us, then himself, Edward." Charlie shook his head and closed his eyes as the memory of Robert Mitchell standing over him with his gun returned. "He knew we were coming, Edward. Someone he was friendly with in the county clerks office tipped him off that I had a warrant signed out on him. He didn't want to live through the shame of a trial or to die in jail, so he decided to go out with bang…literally."
Charlie closed his eyes and leaned back into the hospital bed. "Christ, Edward! I was second from being dead, but then you came." Tears rolled down Charlie's face. He reached down into his uniform pants pocket with a wince of pain. When he pulled out his hand he held the bullet that ricocheted off my skin. It was flattened as if it hit a steel plate. "This was supposed to kill me, Edward. This should've killed you."
Charlie wiped away the tears from his face with one hand as he squeezed the spent bullet in his other. To him that bullet would forever symbolize what he could have lost in that barn. "I think it's time you give me some answers," he said quietly.
"Okay, but I do have one question first. Actually two. What's the prognosis on Mark and yourself?"
The Chief laughed, and then immediately winced in pain. "Actually, your onsite evaluation was quite correct. I have two broken ribs, right near my sternum, and an ugly contusion. What I need is rest and time, nothing else. Mark has a concussion and will need stitches, but no fractures or hemorrhaging, at least at this time. He will be kept for observation for a couple days to make sure everything stays stable. I can go home tomorrow." Charlie paused and readied himself. "So, it's your turn."
"Okay, but let me start by staying two things. First, if you want me to remove myself from Forks after this talk, I will, and my family will as well. Second, the warning I gave you at the barn is still very real. Humans have been killed for knowing the information I am about to tell you, so are you sure you want me to continue?"
Charlie registered my use of the word 'human', as in I was not human. A spike of fear shot through him, but then he remembered all of the events at the barn. If I had wanted to hurt him, I could've done so then, or a dozen of other times we were alone together. Charlie took a shallow breath and nodded for me to continue.
An hour later Charlie knows everything, except for the small detail that his daughter is my singer. He knows that everyone in my family is a vampire. He knows that we feed from animals, but that in our past we have slipped both accidentally and purposely. He knows about our true ages and our immortality. He knows about my medical degrees. He knows about our venom and the basics of how someone becomes like my family. He knows about our bloodlust. He knows about our enhanced senses, speed, strength, and mental capacity. He knows about my family's previous involvement with the Quileutes, but I left out the part of them phasing into large wolves. That is not my story to tell, but Charlie now understands Billy's rudeness when we met. Charlie also knows about the Volturi and consequences for him and my family should the secret get out. I even told him that some vampires have gifts, I highlighted some of the Volturi's, but I refrained from mentioning any within my family. I'm resolved to answer any question he may have, so if he asks about my family and gifts, I will let him know the truth.
For the last few minutes, Charlie has been staring out the darkened hospital room window. His thoughts have been swinging wildly from images of me dressed, and acting, like a film version of Count Dracula, to what it would be like to be an immortal. He also spent some time thinking about Billy and the Quileutes. Over the years, he had heard some of the tribe's myths and legends. He openly wondered if they are supernatural as well.
After a deep, painful breath, he finally turned towards me. "May I ask questions?" He asked in a shaky voice.
"Yes, of course. I will answer anything."
"Okay. When was the last time you took a human life?"
"1931. It was during my rebellious phase I told you about."
He nodded. His questions kept coming as we covered a dozen or so topics. Including my diet choices, the reality of movie myths, and the ways a vampire can be destroyed. He was very thorough in his questioning.
It was now past midnight, and well past visiting hours, but Charlie harassed Dr. Snow until he relented and allowed me to stay. Charlie was getting tired, but he continued on.
"What about crosses or holy water?" I shook my head in reply. The Chief furrowed his brow and struggled with how to word his next question. He did not want to offend me. "So, in the movies vampires are portrayed as evil and often hunted by the church. Are you, you know.."
"Accursed? Damned?" I said to complete his reluctant query.
"Yeah, that." The Chief was not an openly religious man, but he believed in God.
"Charlie, I have struggled with this question. For decades I believed I was damned solely because of what I was changed into. However, I now believed otherwise. Like humans, I believed it is what a man does with his existence that defines whether in the eyes of God he is damned or not. I haven't been perfect in this new life. I have taken human lives. Although I believed them to be worst of men, I still judged them and executed them. I was wrong to do that. Since those dark years, I have tried to be a better man, and I will continue to do so until my soul leaves this earth. I hope that if I am ever brought before God for judgment, that he finds my good deeds have outweighed my bad ones."
Charlie reflected over my answer. Even though I may not be human, he liked that I still thought of myself as a man. His views were similar to my newly enlightened beliefs. He knew, perhaps better than most, that humans were not pure beings. Everyone embodied good and evil within themselves, and it was their actions and words that defined them, as well as provided the basis for how they would be judged on their day of reckoning.
The Chief yawned, which caused him to wince in pain. He had enough answers for the night, so he pressed the call button for the nurse. He was now ready for some pain medication to help him sleep. After he took his medicine, I was given five minutes to wrap things up with Charlie.
"So what's the verdict?" I finally asked. "Do you want me and my family to leave Forks?"
Charlie closed his eyes and relaxed as best he could against the bed. "I'll tell you tomorrow morning when you come to take me home from this place." He said with slight smirk and another painful yawn.