PREVIOUSLY-
Jared looked at me after Paul was gone and smiled. "I've never seen Paul speechless. Or hugging anyone. I've known his father was a piece of shit, but he's usually gone for weeks at a time with the logging company. Paul usually crashes here when he's in town anyways, so I'm really glad you suggested him moving in. I think this will be good for all of us."
"Even the big bad wolf needs someone to take care of him too. To be honest, it makes me really relieved as well." I responded to him truthfully.
Jared and I ate some breakfast (whatever we could find in the house), then left and drove his car back up to Forks.
Surprisingly, he actually let me drive the car. I knew it wasn't much, but it meant a lot to me that he let me drive. It had been another way that Edward had been controlling me that I hadn't realized until then. He'd never let me drive, even in my own truck, to my own home. Jared had been more than happy to let me drive and had even been the one to suggest it in the first place.
It had been a gamble going to Charlie's first, but luckily his cruiser was sitting in the driveway of the house, so I knew he was home.
I looked over at Jared. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, babe. Might as well rip off the band-aid." He replied.
We got out of the car and walked up to the door where I pulled out the spare key and let us inside.
"Dad?" I called out into the house.
A few seconds later, he walked down the stairs.
"Morning Bells, Jared." He responded, motioning for us to go into the living room and sit.
"Morning, Charlie." Jared responded as we sat down. I was fidgeting with my fingers nervously and Jared noticed, reaching over to grab my hand in reassurance.
"Why do I feel like this is more than just a casual 'dropping off my daughter' visit?" Charlie asked both of us when he noticed I was tensing up and looking at Jared.
"Because it is, Sir. I have a request of you. Bella's already agreed but it would mean a lot to me if I got your approval as well," Jared explained to him as I held my breath, looking nervously between the two.
Charlie raised his eyebrows and let out a breath. "Did you ask her to marry you?"
Jared chuckled and squeezed my hand, flashing me a brilliant smile and winking before answering. "Not yet."
I felt my cheeks flush in excitement.
"Then what is it, son?" Charlie pressed, running his fingers down over his mustache.
"I asked Bella to move in with me," Jared stated before continuing. "It won't be a problem to make sure she gets to school until graduation. We're both 18, sir, and I have my own house. I'm already graduated and have a good job with security around the res."
My gaze turned to Charlie, who seemed to be contemplating things.
"Why so sudden?" Charlie asked him questioningly before looking at me. "You're not pregnant, are you?"
"What? No. Definitely not." I replied quickly, blushing. I was still a virgin.
"It's nothing like that, Charlie. I asked because after having her there with me last night, seeing how comfortable and at home she was, I knew right away that I never wanted her to leave." Jared's words nearly made me swoon.
I once again held my breath as I waited for Charlie's reaction.
Charlie looked at me. "And this is what you want?"
I smiled at him while I squeezed Jared's hand. "More than anything."
Charlie sat in silence for a moment, then looked back at Jared and pointed at him. "I might not have jurisdiction over La Push, son, but you better believe I'm going to be keeping a close eye on my baby girl."
My eyes widened at his words in disbelief.
"Does that mean we have your approval?" I asked him excitedly. I could feel Jared's excitement running right alongside my own.
"On two conditions. One, you make it to school on time, no skipping or slacking off. And two, you visit often. And you're the one that's going to tell your mother. I also want to check out this house, make sure it's safe." Charlie replied. "You might be 18, but you're still my little girl."
I couldn't help myself. I stood up and walked over to him, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you, Dad." I told him graciously.
Jared stepped up to my side and after I released Charlie, Jared shook his hand.
"Thank you, sir. I promise I'll take good care of her. If you want, you can stop by on your way back down to the res today for the service. Bella and I are going to grab some groceries while we're in Forks." Jared told him and I smiled brightly.
"I'll see to it, son." Charlie told him as I reached over to squeeze Jared's hand again.
"If it's okay with you, we're going to go ahead and get a few of my things now, but we'll probably get the rest later. We'll have to go up to Port Angeles probably tomorrow to get some things anyways." I said to him honestly and he nodded in acceptance.
I pulled Jared with me up the stairs to my bedroom and closed the door once we both got inside. Before I knew it, Jared had carefully pressed me up against the door and started kissing me.
"You" kiss "officially" kiss "live" kiss "with" kiss "me" kiss "now." He told me breathily before resting his forehead against mine.
"Yes, I do." I murmured against him before looking at my alarm clock. "And we have to watch the time. Don't forget you have lunch watch today too, so we have to get back and show Charlie the house before you have to go."
"I know, babe." He smiled at me. "What do you want to bring down now?"
He looked around my room, smiling at my things and looking at old pictures of me.
"I think just some clothes and toiletries for now. We can bring Paul with us tomorrow and get the rest. I really don't have much." I mentioned, thinking of how I only brought one suitcase with me from Phoenix. I had more now, but not by much.
We packed my few things in a bag and said goodbye to Charlie, giving him the address of our house before heading off to the grocery store. I felt like I bought out half the store in food, but I knew that I would need all of it to feed 8 hungry wolves. Feeding one wolf was about the equivalent of 3 humans anyways.
Once we made it back down to the res, I felt the shimmering as we crossed the boundary again. This time I knew why. This was my home now, where I belonged.
We got back to Jared's house, our house, and unloaded the groceries. Correction, Jared unloaded all of the groceries at once while I grabbed my two bags of clothes and headed inside.
I sat my things down in the bedroom and walked into the kitchen to see Jared leaning against the counter waiting for me with the biggest grin, the grocery bags deposited on the floor. I walked up to him and stood between his legs, leaning into him.
He grabbed my waist and leaned in to kiss me. I still couldn't get over how amazing kissing him felt. It was truly like nothing else. When he pulled away, he smiled at me.
"How's it feel, you know, being here?" He asked me excitedly.
The thought was indescribable. It really did feel like home to me already.
"Like I'm home." I replied honestly.
"Good, because you are." His level of happy that I could feel was unmatched. Just feeling his happiness made me even more happy.
We put away the groceries and nearly as soon as we were done, there was a knock on the door. I knew it was Charlie.
Jared walked with me and he opened the door, seeing Charlie on the other side with his hands on his hips, looking around.
"Hey Dad, come in." I motioned for him to come inside and we both stepped to the side, letting him in the door.
"Pretty nice place you've got here, Jared." Charlie told him as he looked around.
"Thanks, Charlie. It's where I grew up." Jared told him as he began to show him the rest of the house.
"If you don't mind me askin', but where's your parents?" Charlie asked him. I worried about his reaction for a second, but apparently he'd been anticipating the question.
"They moved down to Los Angeles a few months back. I didn't want to leave the res and I love my job, so I decided to stay, and they gave me the house." Jared explained to him, leaving out a few details.
Charlie 'hmm'ed' but didn't say anything else about it. After showing him the rest of the house, we walked him out to his cruiser.
"Well, this place has my seal of approval. Might need some things here and there, furniture and such, but otherwise it looks pretty good, son." Charlie told him and Jared smiled at him proudly.
"Bella and I were planning on heading up to Port A tomorrow to get some new furniture." Jared said to him.
"Stop by the house on your way and I'll give you some money to get something nice." Charlie told us and I looked at him in shock.
"I have the money, you don't need—" Jared began but Charlie cut him off.
"My daughter lives here now, son. Better plan on me helping out where I can."
Charlie reached out and shook Jared's hand.
"Yes, sir." He replied. "You're welcome here anytime. Bella and I were planning on inviting you down to catch the game and have dinner whenever you want. I'm planning on getting a nice flat screen for the living room tomorrow."
Charlie's eyebrows raised at that, as did mine. I hadn't known he'd planned that.
"Now that's something I can get behind. Count me in, son. If I bring beer, no touching it. Understood?" Charlie told him pointedly and he laughed.
"Not a problem, Charlie."
"Well then, I best be headed over to the Clearwater's. You two going to be at the service tonight?" He asked us.
"Yeah, Dad, we'll be there." I promised him before reaching out to hug him.
As he hugged me tightly, he whispered to me, "Now you don't hesitate to call me if you need me. Day or night, work or not, I'll be here."
I pulled back with a smile. "Of course, Dad. I love you."
"Love you too, Bells."
A/N- I swear, my loves, sometimes I wish I could get my ADHD under control because I have my hands dipped in so many pots right now and I keep creating more and more... I'll get a random wild hair idea and all of a sudden have 5,000 words written for a brand new story while simultaneously trying to continue writing the 50,000,000,000 other stories I already have going. I promise I am still working on them all though!
As always, please review to let me know what you think!