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I don't own any characters, the talented Stephenie Meyer does. This is just for fun.

Chapter 13 – Remembering

BPOV –

The beep of Charlie's heart monitor became excruciatingly repetitive. It counted each second, announcing to me that nothing had changed. I didn't need the constant reminder though, my eyes rarely drifted from Charlie's still figure on the bed. He hadn't budged.

Emmett stayed through the first few days but left on the pretense of needing to hunt. We all agreed that his strength was better used helping Rosalie watch La Push instead of molding and unmolding the frame of the chairs repeatedly. Edward made him vow not to do anything which seemed unnecessary to me as Emmett never said he wanted to, aloud anyway.

The endless patience I thought came with immortally was running out in the Cullen's that remained with me in Charlie's room. Carlisle was in and out the room consistently balancing his other duties throughout the rest of the hospital. But when he came to check on Charlie, I could see the anxiety eating through his calm mask. Edward, Alice and Esme all stayed with me through the two torturous weeks. Edward's pacing increased in speed until he was nothing but a blur of pale white striping the room. I kept my eyes away from him in fear of getting sick. Alice occupied herself by drawing detailed depictions of as many visions she could force herself to have. Her impressive portfolio was the size of the English dictionary. Esme, who insisted on keeping her hands busy, taught her self to knit. She had just finished blanket number sixteen preceded by a dozen infant throws and a ridiculous amount of socks.

I left Charlie's side only to shower and change. Edward and I returned just as quickly. He held me as I slept through the long nights in the lumpy sofa next to Charlie's bed. Conversation was sparse except when we discussed what we were going to tell Charlie when he woke.

"What's the story going to be?" I asked them.

Carlisle, Edward, Alice and Esme all pondered silently.

Carlisle spoke first. "His injuries could be consistent with a number of accidents. We should probably keep the sequence of events as close as possible up until… Paul."

"They stopped at his house on the way to go fishing… car accident?" Esme suggested.

"Billy was in the car with him but sustained no injuries, not a chance," Edward noted.

"Fishing Accident?" I asked. "Billy would have to agree that they chose a different place to fish than their regular spot but could the rivers current and rocks have done this to him?" I directed my last question to Carlisle while motioning to Charlie's broken form with a jerk of my chin.

"Yes, if he fell in and was carried further downstream."

"That should work," Alice chirped. "If Billy was the only other person there when it happened, he'd have no way to help once Charlie slipped."

We all thought this through and decided it would have to do. Of course, we still wouldn't know if it would work or even be worth the effort. This was pure agony.

Most of our time was spent in silence with the exception of the monitors, Alice's scribble, and Esme's needles clinking together. My mind was left to wander aimlessly. Spending hours on end in a hospital next to the unconscious body of my dad was not how I envisioned spending the days following my wedding. I don't know why I had expected anything different but color me crazy, I wanted time to relax and time alone with Edward. I finally concluded that the last 2 years had taught me enough to know that anything considered "ordinary" had no place in my life. So the anxiety ruthlessly dragged on.

I had my head down on my arm that was still clutching Charlie's hand. Outside of my control, I was lightly drifting in an out of sleep when I felt his fingers twitch within mine. I was instantly alert but before I was able to lift my head, Edward, Alice, Esme and Carlisle were already surrounding the bed. Soon after our eyes wandered over Charlie, we all looked at Alice.

"He's waking up," she confirmed.

A sigh of desperate relief escaped all our lips as we turned our attention back to Charlie.

"Uhhhhgggggg..." A dry moan choked through Charlie's throat.

Edward lightly pulled Esme and Alice back to the far wall with him while Carlisle circled the bed checking vitals and tweaking tubes.

"Uhhgg" Charlie moaned again.

Carlisle gently lifted Charlie's eye lids and danced a small light across his glazed eyes. "Charlie, can you hear me?" He waited a few moments and asked again. "Charlie, its Dr. Cullen, can you hear me?"

A few seconds passed and I saw Charlie nod infinitesimally, my heart raced.

"Oh dad," I gasped, leaning toward him.

"Be…Bella?" another choke.

"Yes dad, it's me, I'm here." I tried to blink away the budding moisture in my eyes.

"Wh…"

"Don't push yourself Charlie," Carlisle softly cautioned. "You're in the hospital but you're being taken care of. Bella, Edward, Alice and Esme are all here. Take your time."

Charlie stopped fighting his lids and his chest rose with a deeper intake of breath. I could feel his hand tightening around mine. I tightened mine encouragingly in response. Even in the short time since he woke, color was starting to fill his cheeks again, life was making its way back into his features.

Edward approached the bed again and started rubbing my back soothingly with his cool hands. "Alice, can you see anything?" Edward spoke low and fast but I knew she'd be able to hear him.

There was a pause and I shifted so I could see her face.

Alice's face was blank, she was concentrating. "No, not yet," she said, discouraged.

Charlie battled his eye lids again but this time he won. His gaze slowly swept his surroundings before they settled on my face. I can't imagine what he saw there.

"Dad?" I asked, gently moving our entwined hands to my cheek.

"Bella," he groaned once more. "Oh, I hurt."

I looked to Carlisle immediately.

"Yes Charlie, we'll try to take care of that as much as possible. What's hurting the most?" Carlisle asked him.

"Dr. Cullen?" Charlie muttered, incoherently.

"Yes Charlie, its Carlisle Cullen. Can you tell me what is hurting right now?

"Ughhhh… my head," he moaned.

At that moment, Charlie's eyes flickered with remembrance and I stiffened. Edward also tensed as I felt his fingers tighten around my arms.

"Where's Billy, where's Paul?" The words were jumbled, forced through an inactive throat but we all understood them.

Strangely, I felt Edward relax behind me in the next second.

"What do you remember Charlie?" Edward asked.

Charlie blinked and his eyes searched the ceiling. "Billy and I were going to go fishing, but… but we were in the kitchen. Paul was yelling, and… and I yelled back but…" Charlie's expression turned panicked, "but after that… oh God, everything goes blank! I can't remember what happened! What happened to me?!" He was trying to shout but the rasp weakened it to a whine.

I'm sure it was a tad puzzling for Charlie to see the faces of his family and friends filled with relief rather than the terror he felt at loosing his memory.

I tried to control my joy. "It's okay dad, you're okay."

"Then why can't I remember?" he barked back.

"Charlie, slight memory loss in the wake of a traumatic event is perfectly normal." Carlisle's sincerity was undoubtable. "Don't strain yourself but can you tell us what you remember before the morning with Billy and Paul in your kitchen?"

This confused Charlie but I had an idea of what Carlisle was wanting. I hadn't consciously realized before now that he was in danger of loosing the memory of more than just that day.

For one erratic second, I envisioned reliving the shock of me, marriage and Charlie, and I shivered.

"Uhmmmm… sure, it was Bella's wedding, at your place."

"Yes," Carlisle agreed, relief oozing from his lips.

I blew out the breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding in.

"Okay Charlie," Carlisle continued, "is there anything else, besides that morning that you don't remember?"

Charlie thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so, I don't know."

"We'll know for sure in time, but I wouldn't worry," he said, patting Charlie's shoulder gently.

"So what happened to me?" Charlie prodded.

The rest of that day was spent painting a fictional but detailed picture in Charlie's mind of him slipping into the river while fishing and being carried downstream by the violent current. He seemed to buy everything we said to our great relief. The Cullen's had exceptional experience with necessary deception.

Only Edward and I remained in the room when Carlisle explained to Charlie the extent of his injuries. That was rough.

"What about anything permanent," something seemed to get caught in Charlie's throat. "I mean, will I still be able to do the job… be police chief?"

"I can't say for sure yet Charlie but the outlook is good," Carlisle comforted him as best he could.

I thought I had a good understanding of Charlie's passion for his job and the idea of parting from it would be devastating for him. Hot anger deep in the pit of my stomach rekindled at the possibility. I hadn't thought much about Paul since knowing he was back in La Push but instantly I yearned to see his face, to see it and break it.

Charlie tightly accepted what he heard and moved to a lighter subject. He asked Edward for every detail about games and scores he'd missed while unconscious.

"It's silly for you to stay here Bells," Charlie said later, "I'm awake now and Dr. Cullen says I'm going to be fine." Charlie was embarrassed that I and half the Cullen family had been by his bed side for two weeks and was trying to convince us to go. "You can't sleep on that sofa. No, go home, come back tomorrow, or don't. Whatever, I'm fine." Right then he winced.

"Sure dad," I said, while rolling my eyes and settling in closer to Edward on the lumpy sofa.

"Really you two, go. I feel awful as it is that you've been here since your wedding. Take a little bit of the burden off and get out of here."

Reverse guilt trip. Parents are talented. With a loud huff, I gave in. "Fine dad but we'll be here as soon as you wake up tomorrow, okay?"

"Whenever, I'm not going anywhere."

I bent down and kissed his forehead as lightly as I could. He couldn't feel it due to the gauze still wrapped around his head but the sentiment was there. "We love you dad."

Charlie fidgeted uncomfortably, "Love you too, now go."

Edward rested his hand on Charlie's shoulder for a short moment then took my hand and led me toward the door. As soon as we were outside the room, Edward slowed just enough to wrap his arms around my waist and rest his chin on my shoulder. I felt his cold marble chest against my back. He didn't stop us from walking but continued down the hall. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Where to begin," I sighed, "relieved, exhausted, angry, happy, hungry, and I think I smell."

He chucked.

"What about you?" I asked, "Do you need to hunt?". He hadn't hunted since the day before the wedding and his eyes had darkened to coal.

"I'm fine, but yes. I won't go far and I won't be gone long." He stopped and spun me around. "How about I take you home and you sleep while I hunt. You won't even have time to miss me."

The idea of sleeping in an actual bed, our bed, was something I couldn't pass up. "Deal," I agreed.

He bent down and as soon as his cool lips met mine, a familiar spark ignited.

"Let's get out of here," I begged and I started towing him toward the exit.

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