3. Always

Our hunt didn't take very long only because Edward had a set schedule. We managed to find a few mountain lions higher up. As we neared the house Edward and I slowed our pace. If it had been up to me we would have been in the house within a second but Edward had something going on. Not even my persuasion of using my ability was good enough for him so I had to keep my shield to myself.

Edward took my hand as we walked inside. It caught me off guard to see Charlie sitting on the couch holding Renesmee with Jake hovering close.

"Morning Bells," Charlie said to me.

I looked at Edward and Alice who had entered the room.

"You knew about this," I said to him.

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

I cringed at that word. I changed my expression and looked over at Alice. "And you wouldn't tell me?"

"I wanted to but Edward here wouldn't let me."

I reminded myself to smile at Charlie who I had not seen in a couple of weeks since he found out the semi-truth about my new life. He had needed some time and I accepted that. The fact that he wanted me in his life at all was enough.

Charlie handed Renesmee to Jacob and came up and hugged me.

"It's good to see you," he said to me.

"You too dad," I replied as I felt him shiver with my embrace.

"Guess I should always wear a jacket around you now kid," he said.

"Right here chief," Jake said still on the floor with Renesmee. "I run at a full 109 degrees."

Charlie just nodded.

"Sorry," I replied to him in response to his previous statement.

"It's not your fault. Part of the new life right or so Jacob tells me."

I went over to Jake and he handed Renesmee to me without reserve. He might've had some stupid moronic wolf claim to her but Renesmee would always be my daughter so I had first dibs.

I turned back facing Charlie. "Not that I'm not surprised to see you here dad but what are you doing here?"

Charlie looked at Edward who was standing by my side. "You didn't tell her," he asked.

"I thought you might want to," Edward replied.

Charlie placed his hands in his pockets. "Well Bells, Billy and I were gonna go fishing and we wanted to know if you, Jake and Ne… Renesmee wanted to come along." I hesitated for a moment and Charlie placed up a hand, "Now I know you don't like to fish but I just thought, well Billy and I thought it would be nice. It's been a while since the four of us hung out. Kind of for old times' sake."

I hesitated for a split second until my mood suddenly changed. Jasper. I looked over near Alice and sure enough he was there smiling at me.

"Sounds great dad," I replied. "I should probably head back home and get…"

Alice skipped forward, "All ready done. Renesmee's things are all ready in the trunk of Charlie's cruiser."

"Are you sure you got everything?"

Alice placed her hand on one of my under hands that was cradling Renesmee. "Yes, baby carriage, extra sets of clothes, and a few bottles and Emmett had a car seat put in place."

"What about diapers," Charlie interceded.

"Need to know Charlie," Jake said to him.

"Right of course. Well we should get going if we actually want to catch something. Bells I'll wait for you in the car?"

"Sure, I'll be right there."

I turned to face Edward. "You're not coming with us," I asked.

Edward took in an involuntary breath, "No I think you should go without me. I know Charlie wants to just spend time with you and his granddaughter. It will be good for the three of you. I'll be here when you get back."

I smiled at Edward. Normally I hated not having him by my side at every second of the day but for some reason, one I couldn't seem to figure out, I felt grateful that Edward was giving me some alone time with Charlie even if we were going to be spending time with the Blacks as well.

I leaned on my toes and kissed him. "I love you."

"Love you too my Bella."

Renesmee passed on her love to her dad as well and we were off. Jake took the front seat for which I was thankful. I placed Renesmee in her car seat and took the seat next to her. We made our way to White Water Lake where we met up with Billy. He brought his truck which was loaded with fishing gear and human food as well as a portable stove.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been years since I had been here but the familiarity of it was still the same. Jake got out the carriage and Renesmee's diaper bag as I worked on getting her out of her car seat. Charlie was busy grabbing his tackle and fishing poles. There was a heavy over cast but nothing to indicate any rain.

We managed to find a good spot near one of the small docks. I began to place Renesmee in her carriage when Jacob came up to me.

"She doesn't have to sleep there you know."

"What do you mean?"

"She could sleep with me."

I quickly hissed at Jacob.

"Woah not like that. I just meant, I was gonna phase anyways and just relax so she might be more comfortable sleeping on something soft. I promise I'll be careful with her."

"And why would I do that?"

"I just figured one of us should look after her since you probably want to be with Charlie." I didn't know what to say let alone what to do. "Come on Bella shouldn't we at least try to be friends, for the sake of them?" Jake said pointing to our dads.

I sighed knowing he was right. Whatever our differences were when it came to Renesmee, I didn't want to be the one to cause trouble for what should be a pleasant day for all of us.

"Okay all right but don't think you're the only one who has a claim to her. When you do that it just makes me feel out of place."

"Bella, you're her mother nothing can change that. I'm not stupid, I know the bond you have with her is tighter than mine but I can't turn it off."

"I know that. It's just gonna take time to get used to this that's all."

"Well as I've said before, I got all the time in the world."

"So do I," I replied.

Jake smiled. "I'll be right back."

Jake went off into the woods to transform and I stood near Renesmee waiting for him. It didn't take long, over the past few months Jake continued to get faster and faster at his transformation.

"Do you ever get used to that," I heard Charlie say to Billy as he turned to see a huge wolf standing near me and Renesmee.

"It's just a part of life Charlie. It's a genetic trait."

"You never got it?"

"No I did but at the time there weren't any vampires occupying our territory so my generation never needed it."

I could see Charlie cringe at the word 'vampire'. Sometimes I wished I could rewind the clock so that Charlie never knew the secret. It wasn't fair to him. I went over to Renesmee, picked her up and placed her gently on Jake's back. Renesmee curled up clearly happy to be with her best friend. Instinctively as I sometimes did in my shady past I ruffled Jake's hair. He didn't have to reach far to lick my face.

"Ugh mongrel," I said to him teasingly. "Don't wake her," I warned him. If Edward was right, and that Renesmee was in fact growing up human then she needed all the rest she could get for a child her age. Knowing my daughter was in safe hands, I walked over to where Charlie and Billy were sitting on the dock with their fishing poles.

"Got one for me," I asked. Charlie looked up and was a little surprised to see me standing there. It had been a long while since I had fished and even then all I had really done was sat around reading.

"Sure do," replied Charlie. "I was kind of hoping you would come around."

I took a seat on the dock and let my feet dangle. "Better late than never," I said taking the extra pole from him. My cast ended up going a little further than I would have anticipated. It was easy to forget my newfound strength.

"Is Nes…Renesmee asleep?" he asked me.

"It's okay dad, you can call her Nessie, everyone else does and yeah she's taking a nap with Jake."

"Is that wise, keeping her on top of a wolf?"

I looked back to make sure then turned my attention to the water. "She'll be fine. Jake is very…protective of her. She doesn't just take after me though, she's more like her father."

"She's a great Bells just like her mother. Whatever miss giving's I've had, you've done good kid."

I looked up at Charlie and smiled. "Thanks dad."

We continued to sit in silence for the next three hours until I heard Charlie and Billy's stomachs growl.

"You guys should probably eat something," I said breaking the silence. "I'm pretty sure the fish aren't going anywhere."

"She's right Charlie," said Billy, "What do you say we take a break for a while and munch out on some of those hot dogs?"

"Works for me."

I was all ready up making my way towards Jake and Renesmee. Jake raised his head when he smelled me coming.

"Jake you hungry?"

He nodded his head a little as to not disturb Renesmee who was all ready starting to wake up on her own anyways.

"I'll take her. You should probably go change." I reached down for Renesmee. "Hey pretty girl," I said to her softly. "Did you have a nice nap?" She looked up at me with her deep brown eyes, my eyes. She placed her hand up to my cheek showing me a dream she had and then she showed me that she was thirsty. "Okay, I'll get you your bottle in a minute." Renesmee tucked herself near my breast and I knew she was satisfied that she would be getting something to drink soon.

I walked over to her diaper bag and pulled out a bottle, thankful to Alice that she had decided to go with a dark colored one so Charlie wouldn't get grossed out. I looked at the bottle and then at Jake. An idea came to mind and I smirked.

"Hey Jake, do you want to feed her?" I asked walking over to the boys.

Jake chocked on a hotdog. "You're kidding right?"

"Well you're so attached that I just figured you might want to help feed her."

Jake's nose wrinkled. "Sorry that's your job mom." I smiled at Jake and he started to catch onto the joke. "Oh, funny are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Of course not Renesmee would be mad if I did. I just wanted to see the reaction on your face."

"Cute Bells, very funny."

I walked over and took a seat next to Charlie who was slowly eating his chips. Renesmee was asleep in my arms again but knowing she was hungry I had to wake her.

"Renesmee, wake up sweetie. You have to eat." Her eyes snapped open and looked at me. I smiled down at her. "There you go," I said placing the bottle in her mouth. I could feel Charlie's eyes on me as he watched me take care of Renesmee.

"You're a natural," Charlie said.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah who would have thought? I never planned on being a mom but when I found out I was pregnant with Renesmee that all changed. Aside from Edward, she's everything."

"Kids will do that to ya. I remember when your mom found out she was pregnant with you. I was terrified. Didn't think I was ready to be a dad but then you came into this world with those big brown eyes of yours and I just knew everything would be okay even in the rocky stages of life. The good thing about her is that she'll never be alone in this world. She has some great people in her life that will look after her."

I looked up at my dad. His voice was so distant as if he were looking far into a future I couldn't see. And the thing that threw me off was that Charlie Swan was never the sentimental type. Something had changed but I couldn't figure out what it was.

"Dad, is everything okay?"

I could see Billy and Jake glance our way but I ignored them focusing my attention solely on the little girl in my arms and my father before me. By then Renesmee had finished her bottle so I placed it aside.

"Dad," I said again.

Charlie placed his plate aside, the hotdog still untouched and his drink not even open. Charlie looked up and smiled at me.

"Everything's great Bells. I promise."

"Dad, you would never lie to me would you?"

"Everything's fine Bella, I promise. You don't need to worry about me."

Somehow that didn't put my mind at ease.

"Come on kid," he said to me, "What do you say you put Renesmee down for another nap and we can fish on the dock, just the two of us? I love my granddaughter but I miss spending some alone time with my daughter."

I looked down at Renesmee who had all ready fallen asleep in my arms again. I looked up at Charlie. "Sure, okay."

The two of us got up, Charlie hesitated for a second and I was quick to grab onto him with one arm while Renesmee stayed in another.

"It's nothing," he said to me.

"That's probably because you didn't eat anything."

"Not really that hungry. Just can't stomach hot dogs like I used to. Damn shame to."

"Dad are you sure you're okay?"

"Let's just go fish hu Bells?"

I walked over to Renesmee's carriage and placed her in it. This time I would let her sleep there rather than on Jacob. Jacob didn't contest. I walked back to the dock where Charlie had all ready gotten situated.

From behind me I could clearly hear Jake talking to Billy.

"Dad, what's going on with Charlie?" he said in almost a whisper.

"It's not my story to tell son," he calmly said.

Something was going on and that had me worried. I did my best to let that pass and just focus on my time with Charlie.