BELLA

I woke up the next morning after a peaceful and happy night's sleep. I grabbed my bag of toiletries and headed for a shower. As I washed my hair I thought about meeting Alice today. It started out simply getting my thoughts and questions in order but soon turned into an almost panic attack.

What if she only wanted to see me to tell me they didn't want me anymore? What if she was only nice on the phone just to get me to talk to her? What if we talked and decided there was no way my relationship with the Cullens could work? There were so many what ifs to think about. Along with so many things that could possibly go wrong. I could say the wrong thing. Make the wrong move. She could get mad at me and just walk away. She could hurt me. I doubted that one but it was still a possibility.

I had to force myself to calm down as I clinbed out of the shower. I told myself that whatever was meant to happen would happen. I just had to relax and let it play out.

I went to my closet and pulled out a pair of faded blue jeans and a loose fitting red t-shirt. After putting them on, I slipped my feet into a pair of red flip flops and braided my wet hair. I grabbed my purse and headed downstairs. The T.V. was off when I got into the living room. I assumed Charlie was already down in La Push, fishing with Billy. That made me happy. I could have more alone time with Jacob before I went to see Alice.

I planned on telling him about meeting her. There was no reason not too. He might not like it but I knew he loved me enough to support it. I looked at my watch. It was eleven. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and ate slowly. I didn't want to get there too early. I knew he needed his sleep. He's been running patrols for days and getting only two or three hours sleep in between. It was scary how much he was beginning to resemble Edward. I hated seeing him like that. I asked him to just sleep all night last night but he insisted on spending time with me.

I washed my dishes and put them away. It was elven thirty when I headed to my truck. I figured I get to La Push around noon and hang out with Jake until two. I would go straight to the school from La Push to meet Alice.

When I reached Jacob's house, he was sitting on his front porch with Embry looking grave. I got out and greeted them both. Jacob kissed me and wrapped his strong arms around me.

"I have a feeling that you're about to cancel on me." I stated returning the embrace.

"I'm really sorry. Quil's very sick and Emily thinks he should stay in bed for the day. I told Sam I'd run his shift along with mine. I have a two hour and a half hour break at six thirty. I'll go to Charlie's and we can hang out then." He responded.

"It's okay. You don't have to. I'd really rather see you sleeping." I said.

"Nope. You're way more important than sleep." He replied.

I knew I wasn't going to win the argument so I let it drop.

"I need to talk to you quick though." I said.

Embry took my tone to me that I wanted to be alone with him.

"I'm gonna go get started. I'll see you in a minute." he said to Jake then took off towards the trees.

"What's up?" Jake asked.

"I'm going to see Alice today." I said unsure of his reaction.

He was silent for minute. There wasn't any emotion on his face.

"So she finally called you back?" he finally asked.

"About forty times while we were on our date." I replied.

"I see." He said. He paused for a minute. I think he was trying to figure out what to say. "Okay, I love you and support you. I don't like it but I will support it. However, as your boyfriend, I have every right to worry. Which is why I'm going to say this. Be careful. If something happens, call me cell. If I don't answer, call Emily and she'll have Sam contact me."

"Okay." I said simply.

I understood his was unnecessary but understandable. I wasn't about to fight about him with it. I heard a distant howl.

"I have to go." he said.

He kissed me goodbye and took off towards the woods. I jumped back into my truck and headed back home. It was about twelve thirty when I got there. Great. I had two hours and very little to do.

I put a load of laundry in the washer. Then I decided to take another shower. I didn't want to make Alice anymore comfortable than she had to be. It was bad enough that she would have to smell me. I didn't want to make it worse with the smell of wolf on top of human. I threw my clothes in the washer and put on a different pair of jeans and a white t-shirt.

By the time I was ready to go, it was only two. It would only take twenty minutes to get to the school from my house. For lack of anything else to do, I jumped in my truck and headed over. When I pulled in I saw a yellow porsche (A/N: I know the whole Alice wanting the porcshe hasn't happened yet. Just pretend she already wanted one.) I didn't recognize. I did, however recognize the spiky brown head I saw through the back window.

I should've known that Alice would've seen my decision to come early. I parked the trunk a couple spaces away from her and got out slowly. Alice stepped out of the porsche and bounded toward me. She threw her arms around me, lifted me off the ground, and spun me around. She put me down with a huge smile on her face.

"You didn't have to come early on my account." I said catching my breath.

"I know but I was only reading when I saw your decision to come early. I figured I'd surprise you." she replied.

"I'm surprised. You have no idea how much I missed you guys." I said.

"We missed you too." she replied.

I gave her an are-you-serious look.

"Okay, I have some explaining to do." she stated. "Let's walk."

We started walking the perimeter of the school.

"We were never angry with you nor did we hate you." she explained. "We were the ones who left you to pick up the pieces. We can't blame you for who you chose to do that with. We might not like it but we have to deal with the consquences. And if that means putting up with werewolves for the rest of your life. Then we will deal with it. The problem was this whole thing came as a shock to us. The werewolves being active again then finding out you were friends with them. It's not an easy thing to proccess. we just needed time. We actually got over it days ago. We were just trying to avoid you so we wouldn't hurt Edward anymore than he already was. We.." She stopped and put a hand over her mouth. I think she said something she wasn't supposed to.

I was confused because Edward was hurting. He's the one who told me he didn't love me anymore. Not the other way around.

"What do you mean Edward's hurting?" I asked.

"I'm sorry I said anything but I'm not the right person to answer that question." she replied.

"Why not?" I said. "I need to know what you mean. I need answers."

"I know but I can't give them to you. It would be too much of a betrayal to my brother to tell you." she replied. "You have to wait to hear it from him. I'm sorry."

I understood enough about the Cullen family to know their loyalty had no limits. They put their lives in danger to save me when they barely knew me just because I was dating Edward. I knew I wouldn't get anything else out of her.

"Let's talk about something else." I said. "How've you been?"

"I've been good. I've missed my "Bella Barbie" though."

We both laughed.

"And what about Jasper?" I asked.

"He's great. He's getting better at his control. I know how horrible this sounds but your birthday party reall helped him. He realized after that small slip up, he could've killed someone he cared about. Not only that but it had the potential to make his brother hate him forever. He didn't want that to happen again so he's been trying extra hard." she replied.

I was surprised at how little effect that memory had on me now. I actually laughed a little.

"Tell Jasper that I'm happy to help him." I said. "What about Rosalie and Emmett?"

"They were doing good." Alice answered. "Until just recently."

"Why?" I asked.

"Difference of opinion. Emmett's excited that we want to try and work this out. Rosalie on the other hand..." she trialed off.

"So she still doesn't like me?"

"Rose has some trust issues. I can't go into because that's her story but she's really a great person. She's just...Rosalie, I guess."

"I understand." I said.

"So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"You and Jake. I want the dish. How long? When did it happen? How did it happen? A the juicy details!" she practically squealed.

"It's been four months." I said with a blush.

I launched into my explanation of mine and Jacob's relationship. Telling her everything from the motorcycles to the cliff diving to the reasons why I finally gave into him. She laughed a lot during the story. It surprised me that she didn't get angry about any of it. She still had a smile on her face when I finished. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking. She shared some family stories from Denali and I told her stories of my adventures with the pack. I even told her about the night they defeated Victoria. She laughed for the same reason Jake did (see chap. 1).

I wasn't sure how long we talked before my phone rang. I looked at the caller id. It was Jake.

"Hello." I said flipping the phone open.

"Hey, hon. Did you forget I was coming? I've been here for about a half hour." he said.

"I'm sorry." I said. "Alice and I got talking and the time got away from me. I'll be there in twenty minutes. I love you."

"I love you too." he replied. I flipped the phone shut.

"I gotta go, Alice. Jake's at my house and we don't see each other too often right now." I explained.

"Of course," Alice replied. "It was nice talking to you."

"You too." I respond.

She gave me another hug and we headed to our cars.

"Call me again!" I yelled from my truck. "I liked to come over and see everyone else somethime!"

"Sure thing!" she yelled back.

Jake was asleep by the time I got home. I let him sleep. I cleaned things up and ordered dinner for us. I ordered a large pizza with everything for Jake. Then a larg extra cheese and pepperoni for myself and Charlie. It was almost eight before it arrived. I woke Jake and gave him the pizza.

He was a little upset that I didn't wake him sooner but he didn't complain too much. We ate and talked until he had to leave at eight forty five. We only had time for a five minute goodbye but it was a wonderful one. As he disappeared into the trees, I realized how late it really was. Usually, Charlie was home from fishing by now.

I went to the kitchen and called his cell. He didn't answer. Once again, that was unusual for Charlie. I dialed Billy's number.

"Hello." Billy's voice answered.

"Hi, Billy." I said.

"I'm sorry, Bella. Jake's patrolling tonight." he replied.

"I know. I was actually calling to see if my dad was still there."

"He's not home yet?" Billy questioned.

"No and he hasn't called and he won't answer his cell."

"He left here and hour ago, honey."

"What?!" I was starting to panic.

"It's okay Bella. I'll call Sam and get the pack looking for him. I'm sure there was just some kind of a delay. Just stay calm and don't leave. We don't want him to come and be unable to find you."

"Thanks Billy." I said and hung up.

I picked the phone back up and dialed Alice's number. It was time to see if I could really count on the Cullens.

"Hey Bella." Alice said light and cheery.

"Hey Alice, I need your guys' help." I said.

"You know we'd do anything for you." she said.

"My dad left La Push an hour ago." I said my voice cracking. "And he's not home yet. And he hasn't called. He's not answering, either. I called Billy and he's sending the pack out. I'm not sure there's enough of them though."

"Okay, Bella breathe. The family and I will look for them too. I don't want you to be alone so I'm sending Edward over. It'll be okay. We'll find him."

She hung up and so did I. Less than ten minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Edward standing in front of me. I couldn't hold it in anymore, I broke down right there in his arms. He picked me up and shut the door in one swift movement. Then he carried me to the couch whispering comforting things in my ear. I couldn't make anything out. Eventually, the whispers turned into my lullaby and I drifted off to sleep.

A/N: No this isn't what it looks like. It's just Edward comforting her in the best way he knew how. I know some of you are saying shouldn't that be Jacob's job? Here are the reasons I had to make it Edward. 1.) Edward was probably closer than Jacob at the time. 2.) Jacob had a difficult choice. He either had to help Bella by telling her everything was going to be alright or helping to find Charlie. Well, Jacob being a man of action would chose to find her father. Knowing she wasn't alone would make this decision easier. He may not like Edward but he trusted him because Bella still did. 3.) Because I had to get them alone together during a crisis so they could redefine there relationship. I hope that answers the question. I want to warn you that it will be a couple chapters before we find Charlie. I have to do this part from other P.O.V.'s. I think it will only be Edward's and Jake's though. Maybe Alice's. I haven't decided. One more thing, I feel bad because I don't respond to my reviewers. I just want to let all of you know how much I love and appreciate you. If it wasn't for all of you none of my stories would ever get finished. So thank you soooo much. Remember my flying monkeys and click the little box.