A/N: UGH! I am so sorry, but my internet went out. It's fixed now for the mean time. And! I'm not Stephenie Meyer. Also, I would like to thank the two of you who sent me a summary. I forgot to save your names on here! So I'm sorry for not being able to give you proper credit, but I will use both of the summaries you wrote. You guys are awesome!
I'm really sorry that you all got two e-mails for this chapter, I deleted my author's notes and I forgot to edit this chapter...so I'm sorry about that!
I followed Charlie into the house and took a big gulp, he didn't seem all that mad, but the only father figure I had ever known would have killed me for the stunt I pulled, literally.
"Are you alright?" Charlie asked me, I think he was afraid I would go into hysterics again.
"I'm okay now. I'm sorry for how I acted, Charlie." I looked down in shame. I didn't understand why he wasn't mad at me. He should have been furious.
"I understand, Bella. I had no idea that you didn't know about me. When I found out about you I kind of wondered why you never wanted to talk to me, either. I thought that maybe you had kind of replaced me." I flinched at his assumption. My mom had tried to replace him, and it killed her.
"I would have wanted to know you." I began to cry for what seemed the billionth time. "I was just always told that you didn't want me. When my Aunt told me that you said you would take me, I didn't know how to react." The tears ceased, and for the first time without being around Edward, I was happy. I was truly and utterly happy.
It had dawned on me that my whole life a part of me thought I was worthless. I had always thought that not even my own father wanted me, and to top it all off Phil was the one who'd put that in my mind. I had put up with years of verbal and physical abuse from him. And the whole time he was wrong. I did have a father, and he's a great man who would have raised me well, and never hurt me.
In the middle of my thought I found myself slowly and cautiously approaching Charlie for a small, but meaningful hug.
He hesitated for a moment before patting me on the back, then finally wrapping his arms around me. We stayed there for a moment before Charlie took a deep sigh.
"Bella, I want you to do something for me." He began. We pulled away from each other so that we could have the conversation face to face. He kept his hand on my shoulder. "You're doing well, really, you are. You're making friends and you're not really acting out. But I think it would be beneficial to you to get some counseling." I stared at him wide-eyed. That was not what I expected.
"I don't know if that would help." I admitted. Not talking about it seemed to be getting me by, and I didn't want to mess it up.
"I don't either, Bella. But you went through a lot. I can't help but think that it can't be healthy for you to just keep all bottled up." He looked at me with pleading eyes.
"I'll try, Charlie. But if it's not helping, I don't want to keep going." I compromised, and he seemed appeased.
"How about you go to at least five sessions? If it does nothing for you, I won't ask you to go back." He offered and I knew I should accept. I could handle five sessions.
"That sounds……fair." I mumbled reluctantly. My new found happiness was going to be shattered as soon as I had to talk about my feelings that I had just been able to bottle up.
"Thank you, Bells." Charlie said before patting me on the back a little too hard, he was obviously used to Emmett. I nodded at him sheepishly. "So you want some dinner? We can go somewhere." He said.
"Oh, I can cook." I told him quickly. I knew that Charlie wasn't necessarily made of money, and I didn't want him to feel like he had to take me to dinner just because I was having a bad day.
"Actually. I have a surprise for you, I was thinking we could go eat at this restaurant on the way to La Push." Charlie told me. I hadn't heard much about La Push other than it had a pretty beach, and apparently Charlie's best friend lives there.
I agreed to go, even though I felt uncomfortable with Charlie buying me things. We got into the police cruiser and headed toward a small restaurant just off the freeway. It looked homey. The outside was decorated like a cabin, and the inside was about the same. It was warm, and smelled like soup.
"Charlie! You haven't been here in a while." An attractive woman walked up to him, giving him a hug. She turned her attention to me. "And this must be Isabella." She smiled, and I tried my best to smile back. I wasn't sure I would ever get used to people already knowing who I was before I even met them. She turned back to Charlie. "She's beautiful, Charles! She looks just like you." Charlie blushed, and chuckled.
"Bella, this is Sue Clearwater." He finally introduced me, and her lovely smile returned. I shook her hand before she seated us.
"She seems nice." I stated, hoping to start some sort of conversation. Charlie was all too comfortable in awkward silence.
"She's very nice." He agreed. "I was best friends with her husband, he died about five years ago." He explained sadly.
"I'm sorry." I told him. I knew all too well what it was like to lose a loved one.
"Don't worry about me. He went really fast, didn't suffer at all." Charlie said with a smile. "His kids were affected the worst. They were only eleven and thirteen when it happened." He shook his head.
"That's too bad." I felt horrible for the kids. It was awful to lose a parent.
Shortly after another girl came to our table. She looked quite a bit like Sue.
"Hey Charlie!" She shouted.
"Hello, Leah, how have you been? This is my daughter, Bella." He said pointing to me.
"Hi." I said meekly.
She smiled brightly at me. "What can I get you two today?"
"I'm going to have the Beef stroganoff, and she'll have a chicken sandwich." Charlie ordered for the both of us.
"Alrighty. I'll bring that right out. It was nice meeting you, Bella." She said before making her way to the kitchen.
"That's Sue's daughter. Sweetest girl you could ever meet." Charlie told me as soon as she was out of earshot.
"She seems very nice." I said in agreement.
Charlie and I chatted away for a few moments. We talked mostly about what kind of kid he was in high school. "I never had the best grades, but I don't think I once stepped out of line in all my twelve years of school. Emmett used to be in some kind of trouble at least once a week." He told me with a chuckle. I laughed, too. I could definitely see Emmett getting into trouble.
"When he was in the second grade he poured glue inside of his teachers purse because she told him he couldn't go to recess for cussing." Charlie shook his head. "So how about you. Did you ever get into trouble at school?" Charlie asked me.
"Not even once." I told him honestly. I would have been in huge trouble if I had ever done anything wrong.
"I guess you take after me." He chuckled, and I smiled.
Leah came back and set two heaping plates in front of us. I couldn't believe how much food there was! I also couldn't believe how hungry I was. In the midst of all the drama that had happened earlier, I didn't eat once.
I began eating my chicken sandwich as if my life depended on it.
Charlie seemed equally hungry as he ate his stroganoff. It seemed like we were done in a matter of minutes.
"Are you ready to head out of here?" He asked me.
"Yeah. I think if I eat another bite I might explode." I told him before standing up. Charlie threw thirty bucks on the table, and we went back to the car.
"Are you ready for your surprise?" He asked me, he was glowing like a little kid. I didn't want to tell him how much I hated surprises.
"I guess so. I hope it isn't too much though, Charlie. You've already done so much for me." I told him. I didn't want to burden him.
"Nonsense, Bella! You're my daughter, I've missed out on seventeen years of spoiling you!" He explained. As much as I liked Charlie, it was strange to hear him call me his daughter. I wondered if I'd ever call him Dad like a normal kid. I decided that I probably would, someday.
"If you insist." I shrugged before he started driving back toward the freeway. We were only in the car another five minutes or so before pulling up to a small house on the reservation.
A man in a wheelchair came out assisted by a very tall boy who seemed to be about my age.
"Billy, and Jacob." Charlie nodded at them, much more manly than the hug he had given to the Clearwaters. "This is my daughter, Bella." Charlie introduced us. I had heard a lot about Billy, but not much about his son.
"It's nice to meet you both." I said before reaching out to shake their hands. Jacob held onto my hand a little longer than necessary, which made me uncomfortable.
"You, too." Jacob said with a wink.
"Hey, Jake, why don't you lead us to the garage so we can show Bella her gift?" Charlie asked, and Jake nodded. He took my hand, which wasn't necessary. Charlie was pushing Billy not too far behind us when we came to a small out building just a hundred feet or so behind the house.
Charlie came up behind me. "Are you ready?" He asked, and I nodded.
Jacob opened the door, and just behind it was a very retro looking truck. It was a red Chevy with a large yellow bow on top. I gasped. It was perfect.
"Charlie! You didn't! I can't believe it! It's amazing!" I gushed.
He chuckled. "Billy and Jake fixed it up for you. I know you don't take your license test until Monday, but Emmett says you're doing real well." He told me. I couldn't believe Emmett didn't tell me I was getting a car.
"Thank you all so much! I love it. Can I sit inside?" I asked, causing them all to laugh. Billy held out a pair of old keys, which I took from him with a little too much excitement.
I opened the door and hopped inside. "Why don't you start it up, Bells?" Charlie asked me. I stuck the key in the ignition and turned the truck to life. It roared beneath me, the whole reservation must have heard it. I turned the truck off and hopped back down.
"It's so….me." I told Charlie with a giggle.
"I have your drivers permit back in the cruiser, do you want to drive it home?" He asked, and my jaw literally dropped.
"Do I ever?!" I jumped up with excitement.
Charlie drove the cruiser home, while Billy sat in my truck with me, and Jacob drove behind us in an old Volkswagen.
"I'm sorry to hear about your mom. She was a nice lady." Billy told me on the way back. I felt a single tear threaten to spill over, but it didn't. It had been a little while since anyone had really mentioned my mom's death.
"You knew her?" I asked, surprised.
"Of course I did. I have been Charlie's best friend for twenty years. I could hardly believe it when she got pregnant and left." He said, I didn't like the inflection in his voice.
"I thought no one knew my mom was pregnant when she left?" I asked.
"Oh well, of course not. I just mean, you know." Billy mumbled. There was something really peculiar about him, and his son. I didn't trust them, but I kept my mouth shut. I owed them at least that much after they practically built me a truck.
We pulled up to Charlie's house, and I helped Billy back into his wheelchair.
"Come on, Billy. The game is about to start." Charlie said while stepping out of the cruiser.
"Alright, I'm coming. Why don't you and Jake hang out around here somewhere?" Billy more instructed me than asked me. I didn't like the way he was practically banning me from the living room in the house that I lived in.
"Let's go sit on the porch swing." Jake was suddenly behind me, pushing me toward the rusted swing that sat on the back porch.
I moved to the side, so he would stop touching my back. I sat on the far end of the porch swing, and he sat right next to me, much too close for comfort.
"So how are you liking Forks?" He asked, trying to make any sort of conversation.
"It's okay I guess, I haven't really done much here yet." I told him. All I had done was go to a football game so far.
"Well how about I take you around sometime then? Friday sound good?" He pushed, and I nearly started laughing at him. I decided to be polite, instead.
"Actually. I already have plans for Friday." I told him.
"Oh. What are you doing?" He pressed. He was incredibly nosy. It was starting to make me feel smothered.
"I'm going on a…date." I was barely able to say the words. I was afraid I would scream in excitement or start jumping up and down just like I had at the truck.
"Really, with who?" He asked. I was a little offended by how surprised he sounded that I actually got a date. I was surprised, too, but I didn't realize others would feel the same way.
"Edward Cullen." I said with a little too much pride.
"Hah! Good luck with that." Jacob snorted. It was obvious he didn't like Edward very much. "I thought he was going out with your brother." He scoffed.
"You're awfully opinionated about who I hang out with for someone I just met." I spit out before I realized what I was saying, I really didn't want to be rude.
"I'm just not as infatuated with Edward and Emmett as they are with themselves, that's all I'm saying." He shrugged and I grew even angrier.
"Edward and Emmett are two of the greatest people I've ever met. When I got here I wasn't exactly….human, and they were both always there all the time. So I would really appreciate if you kept any of your discrepancies to yourself." I told him before getting up.
"I'm going to bed. Maybe you should go watch the game with your dad." I said a little too quickly.
"Dang, with an attitude like that, maybe you should let me come to bed with you." He chuckled.
"You're disgusting!" I told him before going up the stairs.
"Is everything okay?" Charlie asked as I started my first step.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." I told him. Yeah, tired of Jacob Black. I thought.
"Alright. Goodnight." He said.
I walked into my room and threw on some pajamas. I had just laid down when the cell phone Charlie gave me began ringing.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hey Bella." A velvet voice appeared on the other end and everything melted away instantly.
"Hey, Edward. What's up?" I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Not a lot. I just wanted to ask you something." He sounded a little nervous.
"Sure, anything." I admitted a little too bluntly.
"Well, my family really wants to meet you, and I was wondering if you wanted to go to Church with us tomorrow." He spoke quickly.
I had never been particularly religious. I believed in God, but I didn't have much knowledge of the bible. I wasn't too excited to meet his parents. I was sure they were nice people, but I was worried what they would think of me.
"Umm. I don't really know that much about Church, I wouldn't even know what to wear." I tried to get out of it, but I knew he would convince me to go. I also knew I would be happy I did once he was here.
"You don't have to wear anything special. No one is expecting you to give the sermon, just come and listen." He chuckled, and I couldn't resist giggling a little bit, too.
"Okay. What time is church?" I asked so I could set my alarm clock.
"Church is at 10:30. Can I pick you up at nine? I wanted to take you to breakfast first, then we will meet my parents at the church." He explained.
"Wow. You have this all planned out, don't you?" I giggled.
"Of course." He chuckled a little bit.
"Alright. I'll be ready at nine." I was actually excited to get to go out with Edward, even if it meant church, and his parents.
"Okay I'll be there. Sweet dreams."
"Night." And I hung up the phone.
I walked downstairs where Charlie, Billy, and Jake were cheering for some team dressed in red.
"umm. Charlie?" I broke his attention away from the TV.
"Yeah?" He asked me, and suddenly all three pairs of eyes were on me, causing me to blush a little.
"Edward wants me to go to church with his family tomorrow, is that alright?" I asked for his permission even though I knew he would be fine with it.
"Of course. Do you have a ride?" He asked with concern like only a real father would.
"Edward is picking me up at nine." I told him, hoping he wouldn't try to take me in the cruiser.
"Oh okay. Well tell Carlisle hello for me." Charlie shrugged. I didn't even know who Carlisle was, but I agreed and went back to bed.
I slept pretty soundly. My alarm clock went off at 7:30 AM giving me plenty of time to shower and do something with my hair. As soon as I sat up anxiety started creeping in.
I got into the warm shower letting the water relax my nerves. It won't be so bad. I kept telling myself.
I got out of the shower and blow dried my hair until there were no more waves, or kinks. I used the flat iron that Alice left at my house, she would have been proud.
My hair looked presentable. I was incredibly grateful to be having a good hair day. I threw on a little more make up than I normally would have.
I dug through my wardrobe and managed to find a denim skirt, and a nice sweater. I pulled the outfit together with a pair of boots that were a rip off brand of Ugg.
A few minutes before nine my doorbell rang, and I rushed to get it. There stood Edward, looking as perfect as ever. He was wearing black slacks and a blue button up shirt. He smiled his perfect smile.
"I think I might be underdressed." I told him. I didn't own anything nicer than what I had on.
"I disagree." His smile widened as he looked me over. "Bella, you look absolutely stunning." He gaped. I could feel the heat rising into my cheeks.
"Thanks." I managed to get out. He took my hand and led me to the Volvo.
He took me to a quaint, but nice little restaurant called Apple Farm. I ordered French toast, and he got an omelet.
"Are you excited to meet my parents?" He asked after taking a bite of his breakfast.
"I'm really nervous, actually." I admitted with a blush.
"Don't be. They'll love you. They're really nice." He assured me and I felt a little at ease, but still nervous. I couldn't imagine the people who raised Edward having a hateful bone in their bodies.
"I'm sure they are if they managed to bring up you and Alice." I smiled at him.
He smiled, too. "Are you excited for our date on Friday?" He asked me, solely to make me blush I think.
"Yeah. I even got another offer. I was happy to turn him down for you, though." I giggled.
He tried to mask his jealousy but I could tell it was there. "Who asked you?" He pressed.
"Jacob Black. He wasn't very excited to hear that I had plans with you." I teased.
"I want you to stay away from him." Edward told me with a sudden serious tone.
"You don't have to tell me twice. He seemed like an idiot. But do you mind me asking why?" I was truly curious. Why did they hate each other so much?
"He makes a game out of getting girls in bed. He's a poor excuse for a man. He's the kind of guy that makes all guys look bad." He shook his head in true anger.
"Ew." Was all I could say, which made Edward chuckle.
"I'll protect you from his advances." He joked.
"Thanks. You're my knight in shining armor." I put the back of my hand to my forehead to act like a true damsel.
We finished our breakfast and headed off to the church. He parked next to a beautiful black Mercedes with three people sitting in it. I noticed Alice in the back seat. And I instantly recognized the two adults from the family photos hung around the Cullen home.
They got out of the car, and so did we. The woman walked up to me and embraced me in a hug.
"Hello honey! I have heard so much about you. My you are beautiful!" She gushed.
"Thank you." I whispered while my cheeks were on fire.
"Bella, this is my mother, Esme. And that is my father, Carlisle." He said pointing to the woman, and then the man.
"Carlisle. I'm supposed to tell you hello for Charlie." I told him, and he chuckled. His laugh was very similar to Edward's and it instantly put me at ease.
"Tell him hello for me, too. And it's very nice meeting you." He shook my hand.
"Hey, Bella! I'm glad you decided to come." Alice said before wrapping me in a hug. "I also see you used the flat iron. Nice choice." She whispered in my ear in the middle of our embrace. I giggled a little, and the five of us walked into the massive church.
They were playing music, but it wasn't the usual church music you hear in old movies. It was contemporary Christian, I liked it. The lyrics to the songs were posted above the band, and Edward elbowed me urging me to sing.
"I don't want everyone to run away." I told him with a giggle.
"Come on! I'll sing with you." He told me, and we began to sing together. Surprisingly, Edward wasn't that good, which made me laugh.
Singing with him and Alice reminded me of being in Choir as a kid. After three or four songs a man came to the podium and asked us all to take seat. In unison, the whole church was hushed and seated.
Church wasn't that boring. He spoke about Habakkuk, who was one of the twelve prophets in the Old Testament. I had never realized how much the Old Testament could relate to the new one. I thought the whole Old Testament was about killings, and a vengeful God.
After Church I thanked Carlisle and Esme for inviting me. Edward was going back to my house with me because Charlie had invited for dinner.
When we got to my house the Jeep was already in the driveway. Emmett came out of the house and met us at the Volvo.
"Good morning, Em." I said hoping he wouldn't act like he had when he saw Edward and me that morning.
"Good morning. I guess I owe you two an apology." He said, and I knew everything would be alright.
A/N: Extra long chapter for the wait. Sorry about that again. Review? And once again…if you're the one who write the summary I have now…let me know so I can give you a little credit. I really do appreciate your guy's help. And! If you wrote me a summary and it's not up…don't worry…I'm going to trade them off. Thanks everyone!