Charlie's hands shot forward, grabbing both sides of Bella's face as he stared her down.

"Why are you so cold, Bells? What happened to you out there? Why was your jacket found all cut up?"

Bella shrunk further and further into the couch as he spat the questions out rapid-fire. The more he spoke, the more Bella wanted to physically become a part of the furniture to escape from this conversation. As touched as Bella was by her father's concern for her, there were certain questions she just didn't know how to answer.

"Why are you covered in blood? How have you survived in the woods this long by yourself? How did you get away from those animals? Have you even been eating?"

The reminder of food brought up her memories of that cabin. Of that delicious scent that emanated from that man on the ground. Bella could still smell his blood. Or maybe that was Bella's own blood. The proximity of the stained collar to her face allowed the scent to almost constantly fill her nose.

As Charlie continued on his attack, Bella was lost in her confusion. Edward had once told her that the newborns of their species had absolutely no control. They'd go around slaughtering whole villages in their bloodlust. Bella hadn't fed since she'd woken up, and here she was, with a human mere feet from her, and she hadn't lost control and attack him. That's not to say she didn't feel the burn in her throat or the urge to sink her teeth into something, because she did. It had been difficult to stop herself from slipping through that window and ending that man's suffering and her own thirst in one go, but she'd done it. Was she not a normal newborn? Maybe that should have been obvious, Bella thought, with the way her turning and consequential awakening had gone.

"—take you? If they did we can hunt the down and put them away for a very, very long time, Bells. You don't have to worry about that, I promise. You're not in any danger anymore. You're safe here."

It took a second for Bella to catch up to the point Charlie had gotten to in this one-sided conversation, but when she did, she was quick to put an end to that line of thought.

"What? No Ch-Dad. No one kidnapped me. I've just been…" Bella stumbled over an explanation that wouldn't leave her father with even more questions for her. "…finding myself?"

Charlie's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

"Finding yourself." he repeated flatly.

Internally wincing, Bella nodded. Charlie took a long look at her before, surprisingly, slumping back into his chair with a release of breath. He raised a hand, letting it drag down his face as the silence grew around them. He seemed to gather himself then, his shoulders pushing back and his eyes staring into her own.

"Bella, you know you can tell me anything, right?" He asked her in a steady voice. "If you're ever in any trouble, I can help you."

Bella's nod was much slower this time. She knew Charlie wouldn't just ignore this. There were too many changes and too much left unexplained for him to just drop the subject, so Bella gave him the best she could that would keep him safe.

"For right now," she spoke haltingly, keeping her eyes locked on his, "I'm ok. Things are a bit weird at the moment." She let out a small laugh, more a huff of air than anything. "I'm going through a bit of a transition, but I'm okay." She spoke more seriously. "I can't tell you everything, dad, and you can't ask too many questions or we really could get into a lot of trouble, but if things get really bad, I'll let you know. I promise."

His confusion was plain on his face, but he seemed to come to some kind of acceptance, letting out a deep sigh and closing his eyes before returning them back to her.

"Can I at least let your mom know that you're okay? She's been worried sick about you, kid."

Bella took a moment to think before responding. "Yeah, you can tell mom, but you can't tell anyone else dad. No one else in forks can know that I'm alive." He looked about to protest, but Bella pushed on. "Dad, look at me." She gestured to her eyes and the pale, now flawless skin that covered her body. "I'm not the same as I used to be. Some stuff happened—and I'm okay!" She rushed out at his renewed concerned look. "But I can't exactly go back to my old life. It's too complicated." She looked down at the stain in the carpet that Bella had long speculated to be beer. "I'm too complicated." She looked back up to her father. "I can't go back to school and pretend that things are all normal. Not when they are so obviously not. I can't have people asking too many questions, dad." She looked pleadingly into his eyes, and he once again gave her a silent nod in show of his acceptance.

"Alright. I… alright." He kept nodding as he stood back up, giving Bella the impression of a bobble-head. "Alright, I can do that." And with that, it seemed the conversation was over. Charlie made his way over to the phone on the counter, probably on his way to call Renée.

"Dad." She interrupted him, his hand hovering over the buttons. "Any chance you could just talk to her while I wait upstairs in my room? I've got a lot to figure out and it's probably for the best if I—"

He stopped her with a small smile, the first one he'd shown her since she got back, and likely the first one he'd worn since she left.

"Not a chance, Bells."

OOOOOO

After hurricane Renée had blown through, Charlie started making arrangements for her funeral.

They'd decided, after a few vague explanations, that it was better if the world thought that Isabella Marie Swan had perished in an unfortunate animal attack. This gave Bella more freedom to roam while also protecting Charlie from the wrath of the Volturi. From the little that she knew of them, Bella didn't ever want to have to meet the rulers of the vampire world.

The next two days leading up to the funeral were awkward for Bella. Charlie obviously had a lot of questions, but he was trying to restrain himself. Every time he started getting to in-depth, Bella would fidget and give him some non-answer that left him with even more questions, so he decided to let it be for the moment in favor of planning. It would be a quiet affair. Or, at least as quiet as it could be with nearly a whole town in attendance. Charlie hadn't invited them, but he knew that everyone would come. Nothing much ever happened in this town, so a funeral would just be a form of entertainment for many that would show. Bella tried not to let that bother her.

It was while Charlie was making calls to invite people that it happened. He was on the phone with Billy Black, trying his best to sound like a mourning father while Bella sat on the stair case listening in.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Charlie." Bella must have heard that at least twelve times in the last few hours of phone calls, but something was off about it. The tone was too flat, almost fake. The Blacks had been long time friends to the Swan family, and this fake sympathy fell short of that feeling. It was almost like…

Bella's eyes widened. Like he knew she was still alive.

Charlie said his goodbyes before calling the next person on the list, but Bella was already in action. Blurring upstairs to her room, Bella grabbed a hoodie and a large jacket to cover her up a bit. She also grabbed some sunglasses and a baseball cap right before she left. If it worked for celebrities…

Charlie ran back to the bottom of the stairs, slowing back to a human speed as she entered Charlie's line of sight. He looked confused at her new attire, and she tried to mime that she was going out for a bit. Her fumbling attempts to get the message across must have worked, at least a little, because Charlie's face smoothed out, and he gave a small nod to her while the woman on the other line continued to ramble about her own sob story rather than just accepting the invitation and mobbing on.

She was out the door before he turned back around.

OOOOOO

Bella was never known for her stealth, in life. She'd broken almost every bone in her body at some point, not due to some horrible incident, just her own clumsiness. She may have gained a certain degree of grace with her transformation, but the awkwardness of her human life lingered.

She had run to La Push, not wanting to risk anyone seeing her truck and connecting it back to her, but now she was wishing she had brought Charlie with her. Bella didn't know if she could find Billy Black's house without using the roads, but she couldn't risk being seen by someone she knew. There was only so much that sunglasses can do.

Bella pulled the cap down further, trying her best to disappear inside the hood of her jacket as she made her way down the road. She was glad she'd driven here so many times for family dinners when she was a kid, otherwise she'd never be able to find the way with her head down and eyes constantly scanning the road for anyone who might recognize her. Before too long, she'd found the long winding drive way that led to the Black's house, and, instead of starting down it, rushed over to the trees on the right side of the road and followed it at a bit of a distance.

It didn't take too long before she started smelling something foul. It was almost like wet dog, mixed with some kind of greasy oil, like fire starting fluid. It made Bella want to turn the other way, but she needed answers. She wouldn't be turned away by a bad smell.

By the time she reached the house, the pungent odor had nearly clogged her nose. It was overpowering in the area around the house, and something about it made Bella keep to the trees that surrounded the clearing around the house. She circled to the other side, her eyes scanning for some sign of life, before her ears caught the sound of a two heartbeats inside. One was much faster, almost like the one the girl had, but stronger—steadier. It was almost like this fast pace was it's normal speed. Bella could clearly count out each beat, and she wondered if she would always focus in on them. After a moment, Bella realized that the only reason she could so clearly distinguish the beating of that vital organ was the silence that permeated the house.

Billy and Jacob Black were sitting in complete silence in their home. There was no sound of the television playing the most recent football game. There was no sound of Jacob tinkering in the garage on whatever he had pulled from the junkyard recently. It was a pregnant kind of silence. Heavy with things neither could bring themselves to say, but rested just on the tip of their tongues. Bella could hear someone taking a deep breath before the voice of her friend broke the silence.

"This isn't right." Jacob Black spoke tightly.

Billy heaved a heavy sigh. "Jake, we can't—"

"No!" Jacob interrupted. "This isn't right, and you know it!" A sudden slamming sound accompanied his words, and Bella wondered if he'd broken the table with his fist.

"Charlie isn't permitted to know—" Billy tried.

"Why does it matter what he's 'permitted' to do." Jacob bit out in a scathing tone. "The council doesn't own us, dad. And this isn't right. He thinks his daughter is dead!"

"She could be for all we know." His father responded.

"I know that she's not. And so do you! We got to the bloodsucker before he could finish draining her! Her smell was all over that meadow, and there was no time for him to hide a body. Wherever she is now, she's a vampire. And she needs our help." Jacob was almost shouting at this point.

Bella felt a surge of warmth from the words of her friend. She didn't know how exactly they knew about vampires, or how the hell 'they' had managed to kill Laurent, but even knowing what she was, Jacob was at least willing to help her. She heard a few moments of silence before the elder Black spoke again in a nearly pained voice.

"I know this isn't right, Jacob. I know. We let a teenage girl die on our watch, but—"

"She's not dead!" Jacob roared, and Bella was surprised at the strength behind it. When he spoke next, there was a low sort of growl accompanying his words. "She's a vampire. She's not dead. We made a treaty with the Cullens, so we obviously recognized them as living creatures. Why can't we do the same for her?" When he received no response, Jacob continued. "I'm going to talk to Sam. We can expand our search for her beyond La Push now that the Cullens are gone." Before the elder Black could respond, Bella heard footsteps leading to the front door of the house.

She didn't give herself any time to think. Before she knew it, Bella was standing at the front door to the Black family home, just in time for it to swing open, revealing a harrowed looking Jacob. His eyes widened almost in slow motion to her. Even as Jacob took a deep breath and a staggered step in her direction, Billy Black was behind him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Jake, no!" Billy's expression was one of worry, not for the girl that had been presumed dead for weeks, but for his son, and it cemented in Bella's mind that he knew more about her kind than just their name. Jacob's hesitance granted Bella enough time to remove her glasses and hat, revealing her red eyes, and the man took a step back in response.

"Hey, Jake." Bella spoke softly, before her awkwardness from her human days kicked back in and she stretched her arms out in either direction. "Surprise! I'm not dead." Both men just watched her in a shocked silence, and Bella let out a forced laugh. "But, you apparently already knew that." Jacob was still staring at her in an overwhelmed daze, but Billy took that moment to gently but firmly push his way in front of him.

"Bella. How have you been?" Her father's best friend spoke casually, but with a note of caution in his voice, and the normality of his words drew a startled laugh from her that shook Jacob from his stupor.

"I've been better. You?" Bella reciprocated the casual tone, though her's was slightly more humored than worried.

"Same." Billy actually gave her a smile. A very small one, and gone so fast that if Bella weren't a vampire she might have missed it, but a smile nonetheless. Bella returned the smile with one of her own, instinctually making sure not to show her teeth, and Jacob launched himself at her.

"Oh my god, Bella!" The massive hulk of a man wrapped his arms around her, lifting her in the air before turning around and bringing her into the house without letting her down.

"Jake!" Bella laughed. "I'm pretty sure you have to actually invite a vampire into your house."

Jacob's responding laugh was almost more of a startles gurgle. After it started, he couldn't get it to stop, dropping her down onto the couch while he sat in a chair across from her, holding his sides as his laughter bounced off the walls.

"Well, I mean, it wasn't that funny, but I'll take it after the day I've had." Bella mumbled. She could her the wheels of Billy's chair rolling across the floor to them, and he stopped next to Jacob, still staring at her warily. He started to open his mouth, but Bella rushed her words out. "And you don't have to worry about Charlie, he already knows."

Jacob's laughter cut out. Billy looked at her fearfully, and she could tell that he had taken her words differently than she meant them, so she continued on. "I mean, he doesn't know know, you know? Like, he knows I'm alive, but not that I'm all…vampirey. Is that a word? I don't think it's a word. But yeah, anyway, I ended up going home first thing when I got back, and he was freaked out about me having been gone for weeks, which was news to me but we'll get back to that. So, he asked what had happened and I told him some stupid excuse about 'finding myself' like some kind of high school dropout or something. Oh, god. I can't go back to school. I'm a high school dropout!" Bella rambled on, leaving both men staring at her, one in relieved amusement, and the other blankly, like Billy just couldn't believe that a vampire was capable of being nervous. Or maybe he was still stuck on the whole 'Bella's a vampire now' thing. Either way, she was cut short when he started talking.

"Bella, I have to ask. I know we've been friends with you and your family since long before you kids were even born, but I have a duty to uphold, so I need you to tell me." Billy leaned toward her in his chair, his eyes stony, and Bella had never thought she could be afraid of a man in a wheelchair, especially as a vampire, but she shrunk back into the couch with the weight of his stare.

"Have you killed anyone?"

OOOOOO

Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! I've got a lot planned, and I hope I can keep up with the updating. This is a story I've wanted to write for a while. Let me know what you think!

To everyone that commented: Thank you so much! I love the reviews!