AN: Alright, guys… this one's gonna seem a little familiar, which means we have now reached the point of the original drabble. This chapter is an expansion of said drabble with more context, more conversation, and less history, so don't skip it. Love all of you!

Suggested Listening: "Don't Fear" by The Honey Trees

.

"Okay, so just imagine the water is a big tub of chocolate syrup…"

One hand pressing hard against the dock beneath her, Bella reached up, lowering her sunglasses. The late July sun was hot and Bella, Maddie, and the entire pack had decided to spend their Sunday taking advantage of the uncharacteristic summer sunshine. Days like the one they were in were few and far between on the Olympic peninsula, and Bella swore she could feel her pale skin literally soaking up the sun's rays.

Peering over the rim of her sunglasses, Bella's gaze found her daughter several feet away. She stood on the dock, closer to the beach, leaving a good twelve inches of space between her and the edge. She gripped the inner tube around her waist, contemplating moving closer but thinking better of it each time she tried to take a step toward where the dock ended and the journey to water began.

Quil was trying to get her to jump though. Valiantly prodding her to try something new, like always.

Shifting her gaze for a moment, Bella's eyes scanned the beach, seeing all the faces she knew. Jacob, Sam, Paul, Seth. Emily, Anna, and Rachel. Letting her eyes linger, she felt the same tightness in her chest that always showed up during moments like this. Moments she wasn't lost in life and motherhood and pack business.

A split second to remind her who was missing.

Closing her eyes though, Bella let it pass the same way she always did.

Opening them a moment later, Maddie was the first person she saw. The little girl was now jumping up and down on her short, chubby legs, squealing louder than she needed to but in an ecstatic way that would make everyone around her smile. The noise automatically pulled Bella's eyes away from the dock, toward the water. Toward the source of it.

Finding Quil standing chest-deep in the waves, trying to prompt her soft-spoken, cautious little girl off the dock.

"Chocolate syrup, honey. I'm telling you. You can do it. Jump!"

More squeals ensued, and Bella felt herself smile.

"Only Quil would try to rationalize with a toddler..."

Blinking, Bella turned away from the sight she was focused on, looking to her right and finding Leah next to her. She'd almost forgot the other woman was there. Bella wasn't positive, but she was pretty sure Leah was eyeing her from behind her own sunglasses, a gaze she couldn't see lingering. Leah tipped her head back though, letting the rare sunshine spill over her copper skin.

Chuckling, Bella brushed her hair behind her shoulder before her eyes were drawn back to her daughter. "I don't think he's gonna get her to jump."

Leah made a noise of dissent. "He will, even if he has to stay in that water all fucking day to do it."

She sighed though, and Bella found herself inexplicably holding her breath.

She envied Quil a little...how he always seemed to be able to make those around him move. How he could convince them just about anything was possible.

How she knew Leah was right because her daughter would do just about anything her uncle Quil asked her to.

Maddie moved. Every single day, her daughter moved. She grew, she learned, she smiled. Every single day, Bella was exponentially grateful for it.

Still, Bella couldn't help but feel like she had done her moving.

That she had hit a spot where she was inexplicably stuck.

It was hard to place it, but ever since a month earlier when they had dinner with her mother, Bella could feel it. She could trace it back to that night even though she had no idea why. It was a restlessness, a feeling of being in some kind of unexplainable void, somewhere between the devastation of what she lost and truly putting it behind her. Of accepting it in a way that let her move on.

To a find a way that allowed her to admit and see that her life - the parts beyond simply breathing and getting up in the morning and bandaging skinned knees and going to bed every night - didn't end when Embry's did, as much as it killed her to think it. As much as saying it out loud would have destroyed her.

Still, it had been weighing on Bella, and she knew what it was.

She wanted more…

Of what, she wasn't sure...but she wanted more.

"So...I'm kind of proud of you, you know…"

The words pulled Bella out of her head, her face screwing up in confusion as she tried to place the words. As she turned a perplexed gaze back to the other woman, trying to confirm it was Leah who said them and how they argued with everything Bella was thinking until that point.

"Proud of me?"

Leah nodded lazily. "You heard me, Swan," she confirmed. "I mean it. I know it was hard for you, for a long time, and if we're being honest...I respect you more now than I did before. You have your bad days, but you keep going. I don't think I could've done it…"

Pushing off the dock with her hands, Bella sat up straight, readjusting her bathing suit before glancing back at Leah. "You could...you're stronger than me, Leah."

"Maybe," she admitted, "but in different ways. And I'm too stubborn. I wouldn't have taken any help, and in this case, I think you'd almost need to. I woulda tried to do it all on my own and probably killed myself in the process."

Bella winced, but it went away as she took a deep breath. "I had my reason," Bella said quietly, still watching as Maddie finally took a step closer to the edge.

"Can't think of a better one," Leah replied knowingly. "Someone would have stepped up, you know...had it not been Quil. You know, if he wasn't the one there when it happened."

That time, Bella smiled even though she felt like she shouldn't, knowing it was probably the truth. Knowing her family really was much larger than her and Maddie. Knowing there were so many more people who were a part of it. That they always made things more bearable, if she let them.

"But I don't think anyone would have done it as wholeheartedly as he did it," Leah pushed on.

Bella knew Leah was right about that part, too, and another piece of Bella was thankful it had been Quil. Bella could easily remember all the moments - all the tea parties, all the ice cream dates, the trips to the playground, her birthday party, the stories, the hugs and kisses.

How he'd done it all without a complaint or a second thought.

How it all somehow helped to fill a void in her daughter's life without replacing what she lost. He'd helped the little girl through it, even though he had no idea what he was doing.

But Bella knew...it made all the difference in the world.

And just seeing the way her daughter smiled at him made it impossible to envision anyone else in his place...

"I know," Bella whispered, her toes catching a wave beneath her feet. The smile still on her lips as she watched Quil splashing around in the water, causing the grin on Maddie's face to widen. "She loves him."

"And he'd do just about anything for her. You know that, right?"

Bella knew. More than anything, she knew.

"I know," Bella repeated, finally glancing back at Leah to find the other woman's head angled toward her, both eyebrows peeking out from above her sunglasses.

That time though, Leah dipped her head, lowering her glasses that time. Two black eyes searched Bella's, almost imploring her to believe what she was going to say next.

"So that means you know he'd do just about anything for you, too…"

Bella glanced down at her lap, hands curling around the edge of the dock. Lips parting even though she couldn't think of a single thing to say. Even though Leah's words brought out that warmth in her - one she'd been feeling a lot of lately. One she couldn't really explain, but one she felt that day at the rec center.

The one she felt again the night she went to dinner with her mother.

"He promised he would," Bella whispered, the words sounding more uncertain than she anticipated.

Leah made a groaning noise in her throat. "And you're an idiot if you think that after almost a year and a half, that's the only reason he's still around as much as he is."

Lifting her gaze, Bella automatically found her daughter. Lingering for a moment before letting her eyes pull away from the little girl to the man in the water. To his outstretched arms. To the way, for a split second, he noticed her watching him and winked, his smile staying where it was before he turned back to Maddie.

As Bella remembered the first few dinners at the diner. As she remembered the movie nights, the conversations they'd have as she made dinner and Maddie watched television.

How he had always been there, even before she realized how much it would mean to her.

But it did mean something to her...

And Bella was still thinking about it, even as Maddie took that last step forward. As she felt that warmth again - stronger, more consuming than all the times before - the moment her daughter finally jumped from the dock, straight into Quil's waiting arms.

He'd finally convinced her to jump.

And Bella smiled.

She smiled, and she couldn't help but think maybe her daughter had it figured out all along.

Thanks so much to all who've reviewed the past couple days! Will be reaching out soon to say my individual thanks. :)

Thoughts?