Charlie and the Ride

Finally! A chance to type! By the time the kids go to sleep, I'm ready to crash myself. Not to mention the insane amount of homework I got this week…. But my sister's visiting other family today, so I have some time. Anyway, enough complaining. Hope you enjoy the next chapter. Sorry it took so long.

Disclaimer: Do I really have to say this every time? Twilight's not mine, and if you think it is you need to read the books again.

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I pulled Emmett's Jeep to a stop in front of Bella's home, remaining in my seat for a long minute as I tried to compose myself. I was irrationally terrified of meeting Bella's father. Realistically, I knew that he could not hurt me, but that did nothing to ease my mind. I wondered if this was how Bella felt when she went to meet my family earlier. If it was, she was even braver than I had given her credit for being. I had to get out of the Jeep. I had to meet her father.

Finally, I forced myself to do it. As I raised my hand to ring the doorbell, I could hear Bella and the quiet clink of dishes as they were gathered.

"Leave the dishes, I can do them tonight. You baby me too much," Charlie told her gruffly. I never really got the chance to baby her. I can't believe she's going on a date! And with one of the Cullens…. Seems like just yesterday that she was a baby. Not anymore.

I tried not to laugh as I heard his thoughts, and forced myself to ring the doorbell. I heard Charlie stalking toward the door. Wonder how much I should scare the kid? She said they're playing baseball with his family, so I doubt he'll try anything in front of them. Unless he was lying to her. But no, those are good kids. He won't hurt her. And if he does, well… I can take care of him. And his name's Edward. Got to remember that. Be embarrassing to call him Edwin to his face.

"Come on in, Edward."

When he said my name, Bella sighed. Relieved that her father had gotten my name right? "Thanks, Chief Swan," I said, respectfully. Even vampires need to make good first impressions on fathers.

"Go ahead and call me Charlie. Here, I'll take your jacket."

"Thanks, sir."

"Have a seat there, Edward." He's polite, anyway. He better not try to sit next to her. I don't think I'm ready to see that yet.

Out of the corner of my, eye, I saw Bella grimace as I sat in the room's only chair to keep her father happy. She glared at me as she sat next to her father, and I winked at her.

"So I hear you're getting my girl to watch baseball." I don't think he's trying to trick her, but I think I'm better at spotting lies than she is. If he isn't telling the truth, she's not going.

His thoughts were slightly offensive; how could he think that I would hurt Bella? But at the same time, his thoughts were comforting, because I knew he would be watching me. I would have the security I craved. "Yes, sir," I finally answered, "that's the plan."

Sounds honest enough… "Well, more power to you, I guess." You might just accomplish something I've been trying to do for the last seventeen years.

Charlie started laughing then, and I allowed myself to join him

"Okay," Bella said suddenly, "Enough humor at my expense. Let's go." Charlie and I both followed as she stalked to the hall to retrieve her jacket.

"Not too late, Bell." The less time he's got alone with her the better. I don't trust him yet. Not with my little girl.

"Don't worry, Charlie, I'll have her home early," I promised. I attempted reassure him even though he didn't know that I knew what he was thinking.

"Take care of my girl, all right?"

Bella groaned, but we both ignored her. "She'll be safe with me, I promise, sir." I refused to let anything hurt her.

Charlie didn't doubt my sincerity. That makes me feel a little better.

Bella finally gave up on both of us, and stalked, her spine stiff, out of the house.

Women… Charlie and I both laughed again, and I followed her. She stopped dead on the porch, staring at the Jeep.

Behind us, Charlie let out a low whistle. What a ride! And where the hell are they going that they need to drive that? "Wear your seatbelts," he managed to choke out.

I followed Bella to the passenger side of the vehicle, pulling the door open for her. She looked as though she were ready to try and jump into the seat. She would certainly hurt herself if she tried, so, with a surreptitious glance back at her father and a deep sigh, I lifted her in. It was hard to let go.

Conscious of her father's watching eyes; I made my way to the driver's side at a careful, human pace. He would have enough trouble with his instinctual dislike of me without having seen anything concrete to prove that I was different. When I opened the door, Bella was fumbling with the seat belt, clearly unable to figure out where the buckles fit.

"What's all this?" she demanded.

"It's an off-roading harness."

"Uh-oh," she gulped, still fighting with the buckles. She looked afraid. As though I would let anything hurt her!

I sighed again, and reached over to help her. When my hands came in contact with her warm ivory skin, I couldn't stop touching her. My hands seemed to have a will of their own, lingering at her neck and brushing along her collarbones. Eventually, she gave up trying to help me and focused on keeping her breathing even. There was, however, absolutely nothing she could do about her heartbeat. It thundered erratically, though I do not believe that she even noticed it.

Finally, I forced myself to let go of her, glad that the rain was too heavy for her father to have seen my latest brush with disaster, and pulled away from the house.

"This is a… um… big Jeep you have," she said, clearly nervous.

For some strange reason, her words reminded me of Little Red Riding Hood. Only a century of self- control kept the laugh from my voice as I replied. "It's Emmett's. I didn't think you'd want to run the whole way."

"Where do you keep this thing?"

"We remodeled one of the outbuildings into a garage."

"Aren't you going to put on your seat belt?"

I shot her a disbelieving look. It was so much more fun to ride without the harness. It wasn't, after all, like I could get hurt on the off chance that my reflexes failed and I ended up flipping the Jeep or something like that. As I watched her, I saw something I'd said earlier sink in.

"Run the whole way?" she squeaked. "As in we're still going to run part of the way?"

I grinned at her. "You're not going to run."

"I'm going to be sick."

"Keep your eyes closed, you'll be fine."

I listened as her heartbeat sped up again. When I noticed she was biting her lip again, I leaned over and pressed my lips to her hair. It was a mistake. Her hair, damp from the rain, smelled even better than usual. Leaning so close to her gave me a concentrated dose of her intoxicating odor. Luckily, I hadn't been away long enough to get the scent out of my head; the monster stayed below the surface. Only the man rose to berate me with his desires, and I groaned as I forced myself to pull away. She looked at me, clearly bewildered.

"You smell so good in the rain," I clarified.

"In a good way, or in a bad way?" she asked warily. She was absolutely adorable, and dazzling me into telling her the truth.

"Both, always both," I sighed again. Being with her was exquisite torture.

Finally, we reached the end of the road. The trees formed a green wall on three sides of the Jeep, preventing further progress. As Alice had predicted, the rain had become a slow drizzle, slowing every second as the sky brightened over us.

"Sorry, Bella, we have to go on foot from here." I nearly laughed at the expression of utter terror that transformed her marvelous features.

"You know what?" she said, her voice trembling, "I'll just wait here."

"What happened to all your courage?" I teased. "You were extraordinary this morning." Had I finally pushed her too far?

"I haven't forgotten last time yet," she quipped with a slight shudder.

The first time. Had it really only been yesterday? I felt like I'd lived a lifetime since then. I was out of the car and around to her side far too quickly, but I could not control my enthusiasm. I started to unbuckle her from the overly complicated harness.

"I'll get those," she protested, "you go on ahead."

This was really getting ridiculous. "Hmmm…." I breathed, finishing quickly with the buckles that held her captive. What was I going to do to get her to come with me? I'd already braved the wrath of Rosalie for this. I wasn't about to back down now. And then it hit me. "It seems I'm going to have to tamper with your memory."

I pulled her from the jeep so quickly she had no chance to react, setting her feet securely on the ground under the barely misting sky.

"Tamper with my memory?" she gulped nervously.

"Something like that." I watched her intently, testing my restraint as well as her reactions. This could end badly if I let my concentration lapse for a single instant, and I did not want to frighten her. At the same time, I knew there was a glitter of humor deep in my eyes. I was going to enjoy this, and that mischievous side of me knew that she would as well. I placed my hands carefully on either side of her head, leaning cautiously on the Jeep, forcing her to press her back against it. I leaned in, my face inches from hers as I blocked her escape. She smelled heavenly, and I swallowed back another rush of venom.

"Now," I breathed as her eyes went slightly unfocused, "what exactly are you worrying about?" This was going to be easy.

"Well, um, hitting a tree--" she swallowed audibly again "—and dying. And then getting sick."

I fought back a smile at her words. Trust my Bella to put 'getting sick' after 'dying' on her list of worries. Then I bent slowly, touching my cold lips to the warm hollow at the base of her throat. I decided, in that moment, that it was one of my favorite places to kiss. Her scent was intoxicating as I came so close to the pounding blood beneath the surface of her skin, but I was far enough away from it that the monster stayed below the surface of my mind.

"Are you still worried now?" I whispered against her skin, unable to remove my lips from the heady warmth of her soft flesh.

"Yes," she said; an audible struggle to concentrate in her tone. "About hitting trees and getting sick."

I drew a line up from her throat to the point of her chin with the end of my nose. Her breath was now in my face, and I struggled even harder to keep control. But I refused to stop. It felt too good to be so close to her, to see the effect I had on her. I'd never imagined that this would be possible, yet alone so desirable. "And now?" I demanded softly, my lips in contact with her jaw.

"Trees," she gasped. "Motion sickness." I was impressed that she was still reasonably coherent.

I lifted my face further, pressing my lips to her delicate eyelids. "Bella, you don't really think I would hit a tree, do you?"

"No," she conceded, "but I might." There was no confidence in her voice now. As I had thought, this had been easy.

I kissed slowly down her cheek, letting my mouth pause when it had just brushed the corner of her lips. "Would I let a tree hurt you?" Of course not. I would never allow anything to hurt her.

"No," she panted unevenly, forgetting completely about the second part of her objections.

"You see," I purred as my lips remained in contact with hers. "There's nothing to be afraid of, is there?"

"No," she finally sighed, giving up to my powers of persuasion. She looked so sweet I could no longer take the torture I was giving myself. I gave in to my desires.

My hands came down, cupping her face between them. For an instant, I was afraid I'd been too rough, but then my lips were against hers, moving softly against their glorious heat.

And then her arms reached up to twine themselves around my neck, pulling her beautiful body closer to mine. She sighed, and her lips parted. I could taste her breath in my mouth.

It was too much. Both desires roared to the forefront of my mind, begging that I take her. Instead, I staggered away, breaking our mutual embrace.

"Damn it, Bella!" I gasped. "You'll be the death of me, I swear you will." I kept a careful distance away from her, knowing that I was not in control. Why had I risked her safety again? What had possessed me to be so stupid? I was absolutely furious with myself. I couldn't bear it if I hurt her, and yet I kept risking everything by acting on the crazy impulses I felt. I was an idiot, just as Rose had said.

Bella bent over, bracing her hands against her knees as she panted. "You're indestructible."

She had no idea. "I might have believed that before I met you. Now let's get out of here before I do something really stupid." Having my family around would help my control. They would stop me if I went too far. I had no security, out here alone with her.

It was harder than it should have been to throw her across my back, and once she was in place I was uncomfortably aware of her warmth, her delicious warmth, against me, especially once she had locked her legs and arms around me. I couldn't let myself think about it.

"Don't forget to close your eyes," I warned, a little harsher than I had intended.

When I felt her tuck her head into my shoulder, I took off running, hoping the freedom of the run would free me from my thoughts.

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You like? Charlie's probably OOC, but I did the best I could. I tried to imagine how my dad would think if I introduced him to my boyfriend… Haven't ever had one, though, so even that's hypothetical. Any suggestions?

Tell me about any problems! I don't see my own mistakes very well, so please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong!

Thanks for reading!