A/N: Alright this chapter is more serious than the previous ones. I hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Esme's Point of View:
I grabbed the phone off the table, took a deep breath, and dialed Charlie's number. The phone rang four times before he picked up, and with each ring I felt worse and worse. I was about to tell a man he lost his daughter for good.
"Hello." I heard Charlie say, and I froze. Carlisle grabbed my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, and I took a deep breath.
"Charlie…its Esme." I said with difficulty.
"Oh, hi Esme." Charlie responded in a cheerful voice, which just made me feel worse, all that cheer was about to escape right out of him.
"Charlie…" I started, my voice shaking.
"What's wrong Esme?" Charlie asked, I could tell he was starting to panic.
"The plane…it crashed Charlie." I blurted it out, but not in a rude way, it's just how it ended up leaving my lips.
"But Bella's okay, right?" He asked with so much hope in his voice.
"Charlie." I said and sighed.
"No, Esme, tell me she's okay…she has to be okay." Denial was thick in his voice.
"Charlie, she didn't make it, no one on the plane did." I said gently, my voice shaking as I said it.
"No, it has to be a different plane. It wasn't the one she was on, it couldn't be." He said quickly.
"The plane hit a cliff face on, it caught fire in midair, and fell to the ocean." Charlie needed to realize Bella was gone, as hard as it was, I was running out of things to say to convince him.
"No!" Charlie yelled, and then I heard sobs.
"Charlie…" I started, but he cut me off.
"Was her body found?" He asked. His question shocked me, I'm not sure why it shocked me, it was a perfectly logical question.
"No. They won't be able to find her body Charlie." I said carefully.
"Why the hell not?" Charlie fumed.
"Charlie, the plane caught fire." I wasn't about to directly tell him that his daughter had burned to death, not if I could help it.
"So what?" Oh no, I was going to have to.
"Charlie, the fire most likely consumed her body."
"Most likely." He pointed out.
"If the fire didn't, then the sharks probably got her." I tried to say it gently.
"What about Carlisle and Edward, or the pilot, what about them? Were they found?"
"No." I choked out. This was even harder than I had imagined it would be. There was a long pause, and all I could think was that I wanted to get off the phone. I had my whole family around me, which helped, but it was still hard. I couldn't even look at Bella, I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to continue.
"I um…I should call…Renee." Charlie finally choked out.
"Yeah." I said, I felt like an idiot. I had never been at such a loss for words in my life.
"Bye Esme." Charlie said.
"Bye, and Charlie…I am so so very sorry about your loss." I heard him take a deep breath.
"Well at least I only lost my daughter." I was absolutely shocked to hear him say this. Hearing him say that made me want to hit him. What did he mean he had only lost his daughter? What more did he want to lose?
"Excuse me?" I said rather angrily.
"That didn't come out how I meant it, I just meant…" He trailed off.
"What did you mean?" I asked gently.
"I meant that I'm sorry for your loss as well, not only did you lose your son, but you lost your husband as well. The way I said didn't come out right though." I hadn't expected him to say that, and it felt rather odd to me, but I guess he was just trying to deal with things.
"Thank you…and don't worry about it, bye Charlie."
"Bye." With that I hung up the phone, and broke down.
Carlisle was right there to hold me, and help get me back, but I felt so horrible. Carlisle had me in his lap, and was whispering all the right words into my ear, and slowly I came out of break down mode, and looked around to see that everyone else was feeling about the same. Alice was cradled in Jasper's arms, their heads leaned against each others, with sad looks plastered to their faces. Rosalie and Emmett were on the couch, and Rose was stretched out with her head in Emmett's lap. I couldn't remember ever seeing my family look so sad, and then I turned my head a little more to see Edward and Bella.
Bella was silently crying, tears cascading down her face. She was sitting in Edward's lap, and he was holding her head to his chest. It was hard to see my family like this, but this was how it was, at least for now. Soon things would be different, I hoped. It would be hard for Bella, knowing that her father thought she was dead, but everything would work out somehow. She would be happy, I knew she would be, we all would. I looked up to Carlisle's face, and he started to open his mouth to speak, but then he looked directly towards Edward and Bella. I followed his gaze.
Edward was standing up carefully with Bella in his arms. We looked at him with questioning looks, and thoughts, he read them immediately.
"I'm going to put Bella to sleep, and lay with her, it's been quite the day." He said in a sad voice.
"Bella, can I get you anything dear?" I asked kindly, I knew it was hard for me to hear how Charlie reacted to her death, I couldn't even imagine how Bella felt. Bella kept her head facing Edward's chest, and shook her head no. And Edward mouthed food. I nodded silently towards him, and watched as he walked her up the stairs. I slowly stood up, and walked towards the kitchen.
I was preparing a plate when Carlisle walked in.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he came up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist. I nodded slowly.
"I will be…that was just harder than I thought it would be." I added. He kissed my temple.
"I wish there were another way." I said.
"Me too, but I really don't think there was." Just then Alice walked in.
"There wasn't another way. Edward made me look into the future, about several different possibilities he worked out, none of them would have worked." Alice claimed.
"When has he even had time to think?" Carlisle asked.
"While Bella sleeps." Alice pointed out.
"This was the right thing." Alice informed us.
"Well…I guess it's time we start packing things up." I said.
"Jasper, Emmett, and Rose just went to start, why don't you two relax a little bit, we'll take care of the packing." Alice said kindly.
"Alice…" I started.
"No complaining, accept the help." She said sternly, and walked over to me and kissed my forehead, then bounced out of the room. It was her normal bounce, not quite as happy, but watching Alice made me realize that everything would be just fine.
A/N: Alright there it was. Charlie knows, and the Cullens are packing their things to leave Forks. What did you think? I know Charlie's reaction may seem a little strange, but…that's just how I did it. Review please.
Shelby
