A/N: Another chapter already?! I know! It's insanity! My muse has been sticking around lately, which is awesome sauce.

Chapter 19

Bella/Remi PoV

Cas is a little too close for comfort, but I've learned that this is his usual style. He doesn't know the meaning of the word bubble, I don't think.

"The suspense is killing me, Cas. Who is it?" Dean asks.

"It's an angel that has been sort of banished from heaven," he answers.

"Sort of banished?" I ask. "If I remember Sunday School, the only angel that was ever banished was Lucifer." I can feel my muscles tense, my posture rigid as I wait for him to confirm or deny that assertion.

"It's not Lucifer," Cas assures me. "He was locked in the cage long before your Nephilim ancestor was brought into the world. This angel was kicked out by other angels. Mostly because he's a jackass."

"It's not who I think it is, is it?" Dean asks, a grimace on his face.

Cas gives him a look. "It's-"

"Me," a blonde angel says, appearing in the room next to Cas. I've somewhat gotten used to Cas coming and going, but he's already here. This one gave little to no warning. "Allow me to introduce myself. The name's Balthazar." Castiel rolls his eyes and the guys take on defensive stances. Apparently they've had run-ins with this guy before.

"Dammit, it's exactly who I think it is!" Dean hollers. Balthazar simply winks at him.

"So lovely to meet you, great-I don't know how many great-granddaughter," he adds, bowing before me and then taking my hand in his to kiss it. He's got a pompous british accent, too. Nothing wrong with British accents, but the way he speaks just sounds like he thinks he's better than you. "I knew I had some descendants around here somewhere. Frightfully hard to track, you lot. You know, you wouldn't have even needed all the anti possession or warding tattoos. You're naturally protected against just about everything."

"But Castiel was able to burn the Diamanpire venom out of my body. Oh, and he's healed me a couple times. Plus there are at least two Diamanpires whose gifts work on me. The seer and the empath. So I'm not shielded from everything."

Balthazar tilts his head in thought. "No, but none of those things were particularly harmful. And I'd wager that you're now immune to any what was it? Diamanpire? I'd wager you're immune to all their gifts."

"Why now?"

"Well… Before you were… well, that is you hadn't yet um…"

"You were a virgin before you met Dean and now you're not," Cas blurts out, rolling his eyes at Balthazar. Dean blushes a bit and Sam clears his throat. Charlie is simply giggling in the corner.

I shake my head. "Wait, it took no longer being a virgin for my powers to fully manifest? What the hell kind of back-asswards shit is that?"

"Well, it's sort of like, fully becoming a woman, if you will," Balthazar answers.

"Oh I get it," Charlie pipes in, having stopped laughing for the moment. "In many cultures a boy becomes a man after being with a woman the first time. Like in the Jaynestown episode of Firefly. Remember?"

"Oh yeah, the magistrate wanted Inara to 'bed' his son so he'd become a man. So it's like that but for women?"

"Whatever Firefly is, yes," Balthazar confirms. The shocked then determined look on Charlie's face tells me she's plotting a way to sequester Balthazar in a room and make him watch the entire show plus the movie, Serenity. "It's matriarchal rather than patriarchal as the powers only manifest in the female offspring. Probably because my nephilim child was a girl."

"Was?" I ask.

"Yes, she was killed by angels after not having lived long. Sixty years or so." I suppose to him, sixty years is a mere blip. "I tried to keep her hidden, even from myself for as long as possible. But it's hard to hide that kind of power. It radiates off of one like a beacon. Demons and Angels alike could feel it. However, she was able to bear a child in secret before being killed. And so the Simagre lineage was born."

"Do you think your Aunt knows all this?" Sam asks.

I shrug. "I doubt it, considering she wasn't sure if it was an angel or a fairy. I should probably invite her here so she can learn all this." My reluctance is palpable. I haven't had time to process everything she told me, and I'm still uber pissed that she's been faking her death all these years. My father thinks about her all the time. When I was a kid he would tell me how much I looked like her and how much I reminded him of her. So much that it made me miss someone I never even knew. Only to find out she's been alive all this time and living as a hunter.

With little notice, Balthazar and Castiel disappear, probably to have some kind of duel or something. Or maybe to decide if the Simagre lineage needs to be wiped off the planet since Nephilim are abominations or whatever. "Do you think my life is in danger now?" I ask.

"Um, aren't you a self-declared danger magnet already?" Sam retorts.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, but I mean, now I'm on angel radar. I'm a descendant of a Nephilim, which are forbidden. Doesn't that make my entire family abominations then?"

We all exchange looks with each other, no one really knowing how to answer my question. "Technically, I don't know if there are any rules about Nephilim offspring," Sam offers. "Nephilim are forbidden, but as far as I know, there's never been any written laws about Nephilim procreating. I think the idea is that most angels obey the law and don't copulate with humans, and the handful of times a Nephilim has come to be, it's been killed before it had a chance to reproduce. Balthazar's daughter, your ancestor is the exception, I guess. Thanks to his ability to keep her in hiding. I think this works in our favor."

"I agree," Dean adds. "Angels are not fans of creating new laws and rules. They abide by the ones that God wrote a bajillion years ago, however outdated and archaic they may be, and never updated them or make new ones. Because there's no rules about you, there's nothing they can do, I don't think."

"Okay," I say, taking a deep breath. "Then let's go with that. Aunt Bella left her info, right? Let's call her here."

A few minutes later she arrives, the most grateful look on her face. "Have you come to terms with what we are?" she asks.

"Not really," I answer. "But I have some information. Our buddy Castiel was here and found out who our ancestor is. It's an angel, and his name is Balthazar. He's British. I don't know how an Angel can be British but there you have it."

"Yeah, what up with that?"Dean questions. "Castiel's and Jimmy's voices are so different, so you know it's not really Cas talking with Jimmy's voice. It's his own for the most part. Is Balthazar really British then?" Jimmy must be Castiel's vessel, I figure. I wonder when the boys had a chance to meet the vessel without Cas in him?

"Well, Balthazar is a pompous dick," Sam answers. "Remember when he re-wrote history by un-sinking the Titanic?"

What? "Yeah," Dean replies. "Well, I mean no I don't remember, because he re-sunk it, but I remember hearing about it afterwards." Okay… that's a question for another day.

"At any rate, Aunt Bella, our ancestor is Balthazar. He had a baby with a human woman. Nephilim are the quote unholy and unlawful offspring between a human and an angel, unquote. I guess they're super powerful. Our Nephilim ancestor was a female and she had a baby with a human before she was killed by angels for being a forbidden abomination or whatever. But as a result, all the females in our line have had these special powers."

Arabella sits on the sofa, dumbfounded. "I've searched for ancestors for years, so did your Gran. How is it, that you, who have only known about it for a matter of hours have already found all this out?"

"It's all about who you know," I reply, winking at Dean. Truly, though, had I not gotten connected with these two, I'd have never known about any of this. I wonder what Edward would have done once he did finally get me in the sack (if ever), and all these powers manifested? At the very least, he'd have probably attacked me for smelling even better than before.

"I've been thinking about what you said, Bella, and I really don't think it's a good idea to bring your father into this life. It's dangerous. Am I hurting him by making him think I've been dead all these years? Yes. And I've come to terms with that. Now you need to."

Dean pulled me aside, before I could go off on her again. We go into our bedroom and he closes the door. "Look, Rem. I get what you mean about her lying all these years, but she's right. This life is death. Once you're in it, there's no out. It's not like your pops can just know that all the things that go bump in the night are real and live a normal life. Especially if he's anything like you. He's going to want to help. Hell, he's already taken a vow to protect and serve, right? Don't you think that'd extend to hunting? Our kind of hunting?"

I'm reminded of when Dad was unknowingly hunting Jacob and his pack for killing some hikers. Granted it was Victoria that killed them, but he couldn't have known that. Then I think about the Volturi law that no human be allowed to know the secret. Well, as a Simagre, I don't think I qualify as human anymore, so that takes care of me, but while my dad is part of the Simagre genetic line, he doesn't have any powers.

"Alright, dammit, you're right," I concede. As much as I want to have Charlie know everything, it's dangerous for him. I should check on him, though. It's been a while since we've talked." Before I pick up my phone to call my dad, I go back out into the main room and apologize to Aunt Bella for basically being a royal bitch to her. She had reasons for doing what she did, and while I may not like it, it's better that Charlie be in the dark.

"I'm so glad you see it that way now," she tells me. "I'm also happy I was able to find you. I figured you'd be coming into your powers and that you'd need some guidance. Thankfully you have these fine young men and woman to help you out. I work better alone though, so I think I'll be on my way. You've got my info. Call any time."

She gives me an awkward hug that apparently runs in the Swan family and disappears out the door. "She comes and goes almost as quickly as Cas," Dean comments. "You good, Rem?"

Well that's a loaded question. "I guess so. I thought I was going to have to give up Charlie when I was with Edward. I guess this isn't much different."

"You can still call and visit, y'know," Dean adds. "You wanna plan a visit instead of calling him now? We don't have any cases on the wire yet."

"I want to see him, but I don't know. The Cullens might be there and I really don't want to chance a run-in with them. I think I'll just call right now though."

I dial the familiar number and it goes to voicemail. I glance at the clock and do a quick calculation of the time in Forks vs. New Orleans. Maybe he hasn't left the station yet. I try that number and the deputy on dispatch tells me that he never showed up for work, and that they've been out looking for him. "We'd have called you, but we didn't have an active cell number for you, Bella. I'm so sorry."

I try to stay calm. Maybe it's all just a misunderstanding. Maybe he's taken a personal day and forgot to tell someone. "Any ideas on where he is?" I ask.

"Not yet. But rest assured. We'll find him. "

"What's going on?" Dean asks.

"My dad is missing," I reply simply. About a million different scenarios roll through my mind, none of which are good. My next call is to Jacob. He also has no idea where he is. Billy had been alerted by the station, and asked if Charlie was with him or maybe out fishing, forgetting he had a shift scheduled. But Billy hasn't seen him either. Jacob has a few of the pack out on patrol trying to find him, too.

I can hear Dean on the phone to Bobby, trying to see if there are any hunters in the Pacific Northwest that can lend a hand until we get there. Charlie is on her computer booking flights. She knows I'm not going to road-trip it to Forks. I need to get there fast.

Once I'm off the phone with Jacob, I call Aunt Bella. "Bella," she answers. "Is everything alright?"

"Charlie is missing," I answer.

"I'm confused. Your friend Charlie or your father?"

"My father," I reply. "I tried calling him just to check in and he didn't answer at home. Odd, but not unheard of. I tried the station and they said he never showed up for work today and everyone's out looking for him."

"Oh my god! Are you going out there?"

"Of course," I reply. "Charlie -Girl Charlie that is, is booking flights right now. I'll be there in the next twelve hours I hope. Maybe he'll be safe at home by then and I'm just visiting…"

"Or maybe it's something worse. Do you want me to go with?" she offers.

I think about that for a moment. "I'd love the help, but only if you're ready to reveal you're alive to him. If not, then I'd stay away. And I agree with what you said… he needs to stay in the dark about all this. But I'll leave it up to you."

The other line is silent for a bit. "I'll do what I can on my end, shake some trees. I hope he'll be sitting at home when you get there, but if not… you find him and make sure he's safe." I tell her I'll move heaven and earth to make sure of that and end the call.

Pacing across the room, I decide if the next call I'm thinking of needs to be made. "If he had anything to do with this, I'll send him to hades so fast, even Alice won't see it coming," I murmur.

"Who? Ediot?" Dean asks.

"Yes… if this is some cockamamie scheme to get me back with him by kidnapping my father or something equally… ediotic… But I really don't want to talk to him. Nor any of them. Maybe Rosalie, but last I heard, she, Emmett, and Jasper left the family. I don't know how much they'll know."

"And do you really want to involve supernatural creatures into this anyway?"

"There's where we differ, Dean. I don't see them all as monsters like you do. Plus, I am a supernatural creature, remember? And remember what you said to me about that?"

He gives me a half smile. "Of course I remember. And I still mean it."

Good. I go to my duffel and dig out the information Jasper had given me before he disappeared from that tent. God, that seems like a million years ago. He said the Whitlocks in Galveston. The second we had access to paper and pens, I wrote that down so I wouldn't forget, and shoved it in a leather bound journal I found in a thrift shop. Plucking the note jotted down on hotel stationary, I proceed to look up the name Whitlock in Galveston, Texas on google. Thankfully, there's a phone number available.

"Yello," I hear a male voice answer.

"Um, hi, My name is Bella Remington and I was told I could contact you for help by Jasper Whitlock."

"Oh yes, absolutely!" the man replies, sounding a bit exasperated. I'm sure he wasn't of the mind that anyone would actually take them up on this help. Or maybe he thinks I'm a vampire. "What can I do for you, Ms. Remington."

"Well, I really just need to get a hold of Jasper. He didn't give me his contact info, only told me to call the Whitlocks in Galveston if I needed help."

"Okay, well the process for that is that I take down your information, pass it along to him and then he'll contact you. If he's able."

"That's fine, but the faster the better. I'm in Louisiana, and I just found out that my father went missing today."

I hear his voice clear. "Now, Ms. Remington, you don't think Jasper had something to do with it, do you?"

"Not at all," I reply. "But I think he can help me. He might have a clue as to what happened, but I know he would never do anything to hurt me or my father."

"Good. Alright. I'm having the wife call him right now. I'd expect he'd get back to you very soon." I thanked him for his help and tossed my phone onto the bed while I stuff my clothes into the duffel. I no sooner have it zipped than my phone starts ringing again. I don't recognzie thenumber, so I hope it's Jasper.

"Hello?"

"Bella?" I hear Jasper's voice. "What's going on? Where's Charlie?"

"That's what I need to find out. I'm in New Orleans, booking a flight to Washington as we speak. I'm leaving for the airport shortly." I give him a summary of what I had found out so far from the Station and Jacob.

"I'll meet you there," he offers. "If nothing else, I can help keep Edward and Alice away. You don't think Edward did this, do you?"

"I sure as hell hope not, but if Edward knows me at all, he knows I'd come to Forks immediately if I found out something was wrong with Charlie. But if he knows anything about me now, he'd know he just signed his death certificate."

"God, Bella, I hope he has enough sense not to try and get to you through your father. My tracking device does say he's in Forks, but I haven't seen him go anywhere near your dad's house. I have it set up to alert me if he does, just for this exact reason."

I nod. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean he didn't come upon my dad in the woods or somewhere outside of where you have your alerts. Charlie could have been out hunting or on the job. Look, I don't want to think this of Edward, but given how upset you said he was, I wouldn't put it past him. I'm going to Forks either way, but I could really use your help and anyone else you can bring with you, vegetarian or not. I just met a guy named Garrett this week. Maybe you can find him and bring him. I don't know where he is now."

"That bastard? Yeah, I know where he holes up. I'll grab him," Jasper agrees. "I'll also get Peter and Charlotte."

By the time I'm done with all the phone calls, we're all packed up and heading to the airport. Dean and Sam are going to drive to Forks, stopping in Sioux Falls to get Bobby on the way. Charlie and I will fly and meet them there. We'll beat them there of course, so we've rented a car and booked a couple hotel rooms. I'm sure Jacob would have agreed to pick us up in the rabbit or my behemoth of a truck, but I'd like to have access to a reliable car. Additionally, my dad's house is just not big enough for the four of us plus any immortal help, but I know I'll be spending time there when I'm not out searching for Charlie.

Jasper, Garrett, Peter, and Charlotte will likely arrive not long after Charlie and I do. We've agreed to meet at my dad's house. Dean gives me a long kiss before I get out of the car at the airport. "You make sure this plane lands okay? I'm not losing you due to a hollow metal tube falling out of the sky."

"Yes, I'll apply all the knowledge I acquired at flight school," I reply sarcastically.

He rolls his eyes but then hugs me close, pressing his lips to the top of my head. It's his way of telling me I'm precious to him. I give Sam a hug, too, and head into the airport. Charlie hugs them goodbye and off we go. Within half an hour, we're seated in our first-class seats, ready to make our way. Charlie worked some magic online and got us a non-stop flight in first class. She said it was the only seats they had left, but even if there were coach options, it's not like we can't afford to splurge now.

I settle in for the long flight and try to stay calm while my mind reels with all the things that could have happened to my Dad. I substitute those thoughts will all the ways I could tear Edward apart if I find out he had anything to do with this. Alice, too. I doubt Carlisle and Esme would support him kidnapping and/or hurting my dad in a dimwitted attempt to get me back. And I know for a fact Rosalie wouldn't.

But then, if Edward and Alice aren't involved, who is? This can't be random. Someone is targeting Charlie because of me, I just know it. And rather than blame myself, I will exact my revenge. Hard.

Charlie Swan PoV

I wake up and feel awfully warm. Warmer than I should in Forks, especially in the fall. Blinking my eyes against the bright light, they finally focus and I realize I'm in some tropical paradise. "Hey there, sleepyhead." It's Renee. "I told you if you had that last beer you'd sleep away the morning, and looks like I was right!" She sits on the bed and leans over to kiss me. What on earth?

"Where's Phil?"

She looks confused. "Who's Phil? Were you dreaming?"

I think I am dreaming right now. I've always loved Renee, wished she never left, moreso that she never took Bella away. I missed out on so much of her life. "There's the birthday girl!"

"Mom, my birthday was yesterday. We can stop celebrating already. I never wanted to celebrate in the first place." Well at least some things stay the same in dreams. "Gonna sleep all day, Dad?" Bella asks me, a look of disapproval on her face. She looks like this is a common look for her to have for me. Renee gives her a sad smile.

"No, Bells, sorry. Didn't mean to sleep so late."

She rolls her eyes. "Dad, you know I hate that nickname. It's Izzy." A man calls her name and she leaves the room without another word.

"What's with her?" I ask Renee.

Renee purses her lips. "Charlie, you know she hates her birthday. And every year you plan this vacation in her honor. She feels obligated to come, but the last place she wants to be is near you. You know this. You know I love you, but you've irreparably damaged your relationship with your daughter. I mean, do you even know her husband's name?"

"Husband? What husband?"

"Honestly, Charlie. I love you more than anything, but you are so absent-minded sometimes." I nearly laugh at that. I always think of Renee as the absent-minded one. I get out of bed and head out into the main area of this resort villa. It's very nice. I wonder what I do to afford this kind of place in this dream. Why would dream Bella hate me so much? What does this mean?

She's out on the patio with presumably her husband. As get closer, I see it's Jacob Black. Exactly the guy I always pictured would be perfect for Bella. Maybe this dream isn't so bad after all. They're both smiling and laughing, so it can't be all bad, right? "I wonder when she'll tell him," Renee comments as she comes up next to me.

"Tell him what?"

"That she's pregnant."

"What?! But she's only nineteen!"

Renee throws me a look. "She's twenty-three, Charlie. Where've you been? Honestly. Anyway, she told me yesterday, but she hasn't told him yet. She's not sure how he'll react. It's not exactly planned. But then I told her, if they're not using protection, they may as well be trying to get pregnant."

"I think I'm gonna go out on the dock, get a look at the fish." Renee nods and smiles, kissing me as I go off.

"Say hello to your sister for me," she adds as I walk out. Sister? Arabella's alive in this dream?

I practically run out of the house and down to the dock. Sure enough, lounging under a large umbrella is my sister Arabella. but she looks older. She looks as old as she should had she not died so young. "Jeez bro, it's not even noon and you've pissed off Izzy." I glance back at shore only to see my daughter shooting daggers at me. "What'd you do this time?" She says it as if it's not the first time I've upset her. I'd gotten about the same story from Renee.

"I called her Bells," I answer.

"Yep, that'll do it." I blink a few times and she doesn't disappear. This is really one hell of a dream. It's awful that Bella hates me, but I'm with Renee again and my sister is alive! I can't even imagine what life would be like if either of those things were true. Well, maybe this would be it. But could I ever drive Bella to hate me so much? What could I have done as a father that she looks at me with such disdain?

"Why does she hate me so much?" I ask. Arabella doesn't reply.

"Oh, that wasn't a rhetorical question? I dunno Charlie, would you like an itemized list of your fuck ups throughout her life?

"I'll tell you one, staying with Renee. Catering to that woman's every whim has definitely put a wedge between you and your daughter. You should have let Renee go when she tried to leave you twenty-two years ago, but no. You stuck by her, made the changes she wanted. And then six months later, when she was feeling flighty again, you changed again. And you've been doing it ever since, and she's come to expect you to say yes to every crazy idea she has, no matter how insane nor how much it's going to cost you. Why does Izzy hate you? She doesn't know you Charlie. Hell, I've been a better father figure to her than you. She lived under your roof for eighteen years and you don't know her. You've been working too much. You put in as many hours as possible, again, to cater to Renee.

"She's a wonderful mother and she raised Izzy right, so I can't hate her, but she's all wrong for you. Is there love? Yeah, maybe. But if you ask me, what she loves about you is your willingness to go along with whatever she wants. As a result, Izzy had no stability from you, and not much from Renee, either, but somehow Izzy gets that. I think she needed one of you to be a rock, and neither of you are. And you know all this, and it's why you drink so much. That's another reason she hates you. I don't think there's been a day that you've been sober her entire life."

As I listen to my sister rant about how horrible I am at parenting, I see a flicker on the water. It's like there's a person floating above the waves. A young woman, maybe about nineteen years old. Blonde. She's wearing a dirty dress and has blood caked on parts of her body. She's barely conscious and looks sickly. "Bella, do you see that?" I ask, pointing to where she was. But when I looked back, she was gone. "What is going on here?"

"What's going on is you need to figure out how to win back your daughter. Before you lose her. She said to me this was the last birthday fiasco that she was going to tolerate. Every year she tries, and every year you drink yourself into a stupor every day of the damn vacation. At least now she has Jacob."

That makes me smile. "I always thought they'd make a great couple."

Arabella snorts. "Really? I'm surprised you even know his name."

"Bella, er Izzy said as much, too. Why wouldn't I know him. I've been best friends with his Dad since we were kids."

"Um, pretty sure that ended the day you decided to stay with Renee. Billy hounded you for weeks about just cutting your losses and getting on with your life, finding the right woman and settling down rather than moving about all the time like Renee wanted You didn't listen. You never do. And you and Billy grew apart. You didn't even go to his wife's funeral for god's sake."

It's like I'm in a dream with the Ghost of Christmas Future. Only instead of seeing what my life will be like, I'm seeing what my life would have been like if I'd fought to stay with Renee. How Arabella fits into all that, I'm not sure. I don't see how staying with Renee would have made her not dead. She was nowhere near us when that happened. Then again, this is a dream. Anything can happen.

I sit on the dock and hang my feet over the edge, my toes brushing the warm water. Where are we anyway. Florida maybe? Could be one of the Caribbean Islands for all I know.

As I sway my feet over the water's surface, a shadow comes over me. I flick my eyes up and see that young girl again. Only, upon closer inspection, it's not just any girl. It's Jessica Stanley. Bella's friend. Why would she be in this dream? And why in such a state? I need to wake up.

Pinching, that's it. I remember, if you pinch yourself in a dream, you should wake up. Ow. Nope. That didn't work. "WAKE UP!" I yell.

"Dad, what the fuck?" I hear Bella holler. "We're trying to enjoy a quiet afternoon on the beach and you're having some kind of breakdown or something? Save it for when you're alone, alright?" I see her roll her eyes at me again. The Bella that I know would never roll her eyes at me. At least not where I could see.

This is more than just a dream. It's like a vision or a hallucination of some kind. Dreams aren't this realistic, and people aren't this different. "WAKE UP!" I scream. I start repeating it over and over again. Everyone rushes out of the house and down the dock towards me. They start hollering that my life is perfect and that I can't wake up from real life. I hold my hands over my ears, and start rocking back and forth. "This isn't my real life. This is not how I know these people. Renee divorced me years ago and married a man named Phil. Arabella is dead. Bella doesn't hate me and she never married Jacob no matter how much I would have loved it. She's not 23, she's not even nineteen yet.

My surroundings change and I'm no longer at the beach on some caribbean island. I'm in some old broken down building. Looks like it might be that old mill that went out of business a while back. My senses all start to come back to me and I realized I'm tied up with my arms above my head. There's an IV in my left arm and I can't move my feet very well. I blink my eyes at the IV to try and figure out if I've been drugged or something. Before I can deduce what's going on, a man steps up to me. He's covered in tattoos and his eyes are icy blue. He looks at me, frowning. "You shouldn't be awake yet." He reaches out for me and touches my face with his hand. I see his tattoos light up and his eyes glow blue before everything goes black.

A/N: I'm guessing most of you have figured out what's got Charlie! But why him? Why now? And what's Remi (Bella) gonna do about it? Leave me your guesses and theories in a review! Carry on my Wayward Friends!