The Painful Truth

Disclaimer; all characters and copyright belong to Stephanie Meyer.

A/N-thank you for the kind reviews!

Part Six

Billy knew that something was wrong with Charlie as soon as his friend came into the house. Charlie's jaw was clenched as he struggled to get his jacket off and unclip his gun. He released a string of curse words. Billy immediately rolled his chair over to join his friend as Charlie slumped on the old couch and put his head in his hands.

"What happened?"

Charlie raised his head and rubbed a hand over his face as he tried to regain his composure. "Is Bells around?" He checked.

"No. She went to the Ateara's store for me to stock up on supplies. Don't worry Seth went with her." Billy rushed to reassure Charlie as he saw him frown.

"They fucking ambushed me at work." Charlie revealed.

"You can't be serious." Billy was astonished at this piece of news. He couldn't believe the Cullen's audacity.

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Charlie complained bitterly as he slumped back in his seat. "I'm sorry I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"Who else have you got to take it out on?" Billy smiled wryly.

Charlie sighed. "I saw them, Billy. I saw exactly what they are capable of. That Carlisle Cullen did a right number on my secretary. He had her eating out of the palm of his hand. Daphne is usually a moody cow, but not when he dazzled her."

Billy's expression became grim. "What exactly did they say to you?" He questioned.

"Oh, some bullshit about wanting to talk." Charlie replied. "Then that pasty faced walking fossil decided to give me a lecture about Bella. I lost it then. I ordered them to leave. The whole damn station heard me."

"You can be fierce when you lose it." Billy conceded. "I just wonder what they'll try next. They won't leave it at that."

Charlie sat forward again and rested his elbows on his knees as he pondered Billy's words. "I don't know whether to tell Bella or keep it to myself." He looked at Billy for help.

"I think you should tell her." Billy stated firmly. "She will respect you more for being honest. Secrets have a way of coming out and biting you on the ass otherwise."

"You never spoke a truer word." Charlie agreed as he became thoughtful. The weekend was coming up. He was planning to spend some one on one time with Bella. He wanted to show her that he had listened to what she had to say and taken it to heart. He wished that he could go back in time and change things, but he didn't have access to a time machine. No, actions spoke louder than words. He just had to figure out what the two of them could do together without leaving the reservation.


"Thanks for helping me, Seth." Bella smiled at the young teenager gratefully as she opened the door for him so he could carry the heavy bags into the house.

"You're welcome." Seth said shyly as he dumped the bags near the kitchen. "And thanks for all your help with the maths assignment. You're a good teacher." His cheeks turned rosy in embarrassment.

"You did all the hard work." Bella told him as she began to unpack the bags and put the shopping away. It was odd to think that Leah and Seth were siblings, they were such different personalities. Leah was fierce like her mother, Sue. But Seth took after his father. Harry had been a genial character, very friendly and upbeat. She knew her dad missed his friend. Harry had been the third musketeer, and his loss was felt deeply. Bella felt guilty as she realised she had hardly been much comfort to her father, Billy, the Clearwater's or anyone else when Harry had passed. She had been too absorbed in her own grief. Which when put into perspective hardly mattered. She had lost a boyfriend, not a life.

"You okay, Bella?" Seth asked solicitously when she fell quiet.

Bella turned to face him and gazed at him sadly. "Seth, I am so sorry about Harry. Your dad was a great guy. I just wanted you to know that."

Seth was taken aback at this sudden turn in the conversation. Moisture welled in his eyes as he thought about Harry. He missed his dad every single day. It was tense at home as his mother and Leah found it hard to talk about him. "I miss him." He confessed as he wiped the back of his hand over his eyes.

"Oh, Seth, I'm an idiot for bringing it up now." Bella apologised swiftly, feeling mortified that she had upset the younger boy.

"No, it's nice to be able to speak about dad." Seth assured her.

Bella relaxed as she realised Seth wasn't angry with her. "You can talk to me anytime you want."

"Thanks, Bella." Seth gave her sweet smile before he dared to reach out and give her a quick hug.

Tears sprang into Bella's eyes as she relaxed into his warmth for a few seconds. It was the first close contact she'd had since Jacob had held her hand, and she was grateful for it. Seth released her and smiled at her shyly again. "I better go, Bella. Mom's expecting me."

"Bye, Seth." Bella watched him go with a lump in her throat. Today had taught her a valuable lesson. She may have accused Charlie of not making an effort to engage, but she was just as guilty. As soon as she saw her father she was going to talk to him about Harry and show him how much she cared.


"Dad, I need to speak to you…."

"Bells, I have something to tell you…"

Father and daughter looked at each other for a long moment as they both spoke at the same time. Then they burst into laughter. Bella loved seeing the grin on Charlie's face. It smoothed the lines away and made him appear years younger. She couldn't remember the last time she had heard him laugh, and that thought sobered her.

"You go first, kiddo." Charlie suggested as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

"Um…okay." Bella took a seat opposite him and clasped her hands in her lap as she tried to steady her nerves. She found it hard to broach the subject of Harry's death, but she was determined to forge ahead. "Um…I just wanted to say how sorry I am about Harry, and apologise for not being there to support you. I just spoke to Seth about his dad and it made me realise just how self-absorbed I've been. I know it shouldn't have taken something like this to make me wake up to the fact that I've been very neglectful, but…I…I want to change that now." She swallowed nervously a few times as she waited out Charlie's reaction.

Charlie didn't respond straight away. Hearing her talk about Harry had made him become all emotional. He took a moment to compose himself. "Thank you, Bells. That's very sweet of you to say, but I know you were under a lot of pressure at the time."

"It was pressure I put on myself." Bella said sadly. It hurt to think about her recent past, and the way she had acted. Harry had been dying of a heart attack while she had thrown herself off a cliff in pursuit of Edward's voice. She couldn't believe she had done that. She had put her life in danger and Jacob's too. It was hard for her to remember with clarity what had led her to such a desperate act. But right now, sitting in front of her father, she felt deeply ashamed of herself. "I don't know where my head was at, dad." She confessed. "It's painful to remember what I was like back then, but despite that, there is no excuse for what I did, and for the selfish way I was acting."

Charlie reached across the table and held out his hands toward Bella. She hesitated a moment before placing her hands in his. "What you've said leads me into what I need to tell you. Carlisle Cullen and his son came to see me at work today." He gripped Bella's hands tightly as she flinched and her face turned white.

"What did Edward say?" Bella asked anxiously.

Charlie studied her warily before he quoted Edward verbatim. "He asked after you, than more or less implied that I didn't have your best interests at heart and you'd be anxious without him. He made it sound like you couldn't function on your own without him to prop you up. I was infuriated, Bella. Then he said that his only goal in life was to keep you safe from harm. What the fuck was he implying by that? He was the one who placed you in danger over and over again. The whole family was complicit in his actions. I ordered them to leave. I just couldn't take listening to their excuses."

Bella remained quiet as she tried to absorb what her father was saying. She remembered her last conversation with Edward as he tried to persuade her to change Charlie's mind and get him to agree to a meeting. Instead he hadn't waited for her to contact him, and approached Charlie behind her back. "I should speak to him." She finally said.

"No." Charlie stated firmly. "He has this weird hold over you, kiddo. It's too soon."

Bella pulled her hands out of his. His attitude was beginning to irk her again. She had done what he wanted so far, but she wasn't a child, he needed to remember that. "I am an adult, dad. You seem to forget that." She reminded him coldly before she stood up and walked away from him.

"Damn." Charlie cursed as the small glimmer of a breakthrough between them crashed and burned.


Bella wished that Jacob was around so she could speak to him. But he had been avoiding her ever since the tutoring session was over. He was out patrolling now, and she knew he wouldn't be back until the early hours. She wandered outside and sat on the porch steps, as she stared glumly at the darkening sky. The clouds were black and scudding fast across the heavens, and she knew that they were in for a stormy night. Bella wished she hadn't overreacted to her father's comments. He had been trying to be open with her and she had essentially shut him down. But it was hard coping with the knowledge that he thought she didn't know her own mind. He really did seem to be under the impression that Edward controlled her every thought and move. But none of them seemed to realise that they were doing the very thing that they were accusing Edward of. Bella wasn't a fool. She knew Edward could be too overprotective and at times overstep his bounds. But she put this down to what had happened after James had attacked her. It had frightened Edward and he had never been the same since. But then neither had she. When he had come back into her life, she had been trying so hard to make things the way they were before he left, but in reality things had changed irrevocably between them.

Bella wondered where Jacob was right now, and what he was thinking. She missed him terribly. During her darkest days he had been her sun. He was the one person who had been able to brighten her days. He was so easy to be around and his quiet confidence, sunny smile and bear hugs lifted her spirits. He had been so carefree before he phased, and even afterwards, his sunny personality shone through. He had such a heavy burden to carry and was so selfless in the way he cared for his father, in the way he had once cared for her. Bella wanted their special connection back. She yearned to feel his hand in hers; she longed to see his sunny smile light up his beautiful face. She wanted to bathe in his warmth so she could feel safe and loved again.

"Well than maybe it's time you gave something back to him instead of taking all the time."

Bella winced as her subconscious told her what should have been so obvious all along. She could have sworn her subconscious sounded just like a sarcastic Leah Clearwater.


Bella knew that Jacob had been sleeping in the Taj when he finished his patrol shifts, apart from the one time he had fallen asleep on the floor beside her bed. She guessed he was doing this just so he could continue to avoid her. Well she was going to try and change that. She was going to give him an olive branch and hoped that he would take it. When her father and Billy had gone to bed, Bella snuck out into the kitchen and began to prepare some food for Jacob. She made up some simple sandwiches, added some fruit and also three of the cakes she had baked the day before which she had saved for him from Billy and Charlie's clutches. She packed it all away in some plastic containers to keep the food fresh.

After tiptoeing past her snoring father, who was still sleeping in the front room, Bella shoved on her boots and crept out of the house so she could leave the food in the Taj so Jacob could have something to eat when he came back in the early hours of the morning. She left the plastic container next to the Rabbit and propped up a note beside it. Then satisfied that Jacob could see it, Bella left and went back to the house.


Jacob was exhausted. He and Jared had caught sight of the redhead and had chased her for miles. At times he felt as if she had been taunting them. She seemed to have a gift for evading capture. It was getting immensely frustrating. It was only when Jacob had gotten too close for comfort that she had given up toying with them and jumped off over a cliff and dived into the sea, thus ending the chase. It was raining heavily and Jacob was soaked. His tan skin glistened as the water droplets shimmered as they dripped from his hair and onto his broad shoulders. He went straight to the Taj to crash, ignoring the biting hunger that gnawed at his stomach. He hadn't eaten since lunch. He was too tired to care though and just wanted sleep.

The plastic container caught his eyes straight away. He loped over to it and picked it up, along with the note. A tired smile lit up his face as he saw Bella's neat handwriting scrawled across the paper.

"Jake,

I know you must be starving. Jeez, you're always hungry. I thought you could do with a light snack after patrolling all night, and with my father camped out in the front room, I know that you won't come in to refuel. So I thought I'd bring the food to you.

Enjoy,

Bells XXX"

Jacob felt overcome with emotion as he read the note over and over. Bella had tried to keep the tone light deliberately. She was trying in her own way to reach out to him and show that she did care. Jacob breathed deeply a few times as he tried to regain his composure. He couldn't believe he was falling apart over a bunch of sandwiches. But of course he knew it was a lot more than that. Eventually he ripped open the container and began to eat what was inside.


It was easy for Jacob to climb into Bella's room. Charlie's snores were so loud it masked any noise that he might have made. He ducked down next to Bella's bed and gazed at her lovingly while she slept. She was turned on her side, facing the wall. So she had her back to him. Jacob leaned over her and brushed his lips across her forehead. "Thanks." He whispered before stepping back.

"My Jacob." Bella mumbled in her sleep as she tugged the covers closer around her before falling back into a deep slumber. Her eyes remained closed the whole time.

Jacob felt a lump lodge in his throat as he gazed at her one more time before he quietly left the room.


The next morning Bella woke up feeling rejuvenated and relaxed. For once she had slept the whole night through without her usual bad dreams haunting her. She thought about Jacob and wondered if he had found the food she had left for him. Her question was answered when she got up and nearly tripped over the now empty plastic container. A smile broke out on her face as she noticed what was lying beside it. She ducked down and picked up the pretty blue wildflower that Jacob had left behind as a sign of gratitude. Bella's smile widened as she tucked the blue flower into her hair and jauntily left the room.

A/N-thanks for reading!