A/N: So, I've decided to continue this...It might suck, it might not, we will see. :) I couldn't fall asleep last night due to ideas floating around in my head! Also, in any possible future chapters, the rating might be going up...(although that is unlikely as I have never written a 'love' scene, and can't imagine making it not terrible...), but if anyone is bothered by that, I can write two separate chapters so nobody has to read it if they don't wish...
Stats: 4 reviews, 161 hits, 5 favs, 5 alerts
Now onto my reviewers:
teamjake216: Thank you for liking and reviewing! After rereading this, I do also agree that it could end there, but I know if I was a reader and it ended like that, I would have wanted more...:)

gaaragirl202: Thanks for the praise! It motivated me to continue!

Lylly: Your review was so sweet, thanks for taking the time to do so! I completely agree about Bella and Jake never fighting, and already have several fight scenarios in my head. Hopefully you enjoy!

VeniVediVici: Aw, thank you! Liked hearing your thoughts!

One last note, I am going to start specifically marking when the POV changes, because on my reread, I could see how that could potentially confuse someone! Oh, and yes, I know that it is out of character to give Jake a beer, and I don't approve of underage drinking, even if you are a hot sexy werewolf. :P

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CHARLIE'S P.O.V.

I glanced quizzically at the tiremarks left on our street before pulling into the driveway. That damn Cullen boy. Had to mess up my girl, and now my street as well? It didn't matter that Edward had left months ago. I continued to blame him for everything. Things I knew he had no part in. But I didn't really give a shit. After what he did to my daughter...If he and I ever meet again, it's going to be ugly...I often polish and perform regular maitenance on my gun collection, so that if it does happen, I won't be caught off guard. Bells would probably be mortified if she knew, but hey, what she didn't know couldn't hurt her.

With the exception of the Cullen kid leaving, and her not knowing where he was, why he had left her, why they had all left. That had almost killed my baby.

Sighing I slid my key out of the ignition of the police cruiser. My mind was a magnet for negative thoughts tonight. I couldn't help it. Suddenly losing Harry like that, one of my closest friends, hit me like a ton of bricks. And I had red hot guilt coursing through my veins. I had been the one to ask him if he had wanted to scout the woods with me, looking for any evidence of the superwolf she had seen. How had I been so stupid? I knew he was moderately older than me, and would tire more quickly than I would. In the back of my head, I understood the fact that if it was someone's time to leave this earth, it was their time, no matter what the circumstances leading up to it were, but I felt like I had personally contributed to the death of my friend. I willed my tears away as I sighed and attempted to regain my composure. I'm sure Bella was expecting me to not be in the greatest shape, but if she saw me looking like this, I would send her into a panic. She was so damn jumpy these days.

I swung open the cruiser door, stepped out of the vehicle, grabbing my holster from off the passenger seat. I trudged up the steps, and tested the doorknob like I always did (I just liked the reassurance I got from knowing that Bella did listen to me when the doorknob wouldn't turn in my hand), and the knob turned and the door creaked open. A little twinge of unease went through me, but I wasn't overly concerned as I quietly pushed the door closed behind me. All was quiet in the house except for a low, deep rumbling that my ears recognized as snoring, coming from the living room... Bella didn't snore. I dropped my holster on the counter, and all I could see in my head were images of Cullen magically reappearing, only to rub salt in Bella's already gaping wounds.

I stormed into the living room and switched on the light switch, blown away when I saw Bella asleep, wrapped in the arms of a very tan, very muscular, very shirtless (shirtless? why the hell was he shirtless?) Jacob Black. My anger immediately ebbed away, relief flowing through me. Jake was a good kid. Jake, whether my stubborn daughter realized it or not, had began to heal her. Something that I myself apparently couldn't do. I didn't hold it against her, or him, for that matter. My relationship with Bella had always been awkward, to say the least. I loved her to death, but we were way too much alike sometimes to even be able to dream of having a normal father-daughter relationship. I just hoped that one day, one of us, at least, would change, so I did have a chance to truly get to know her.

My eyes were drawn to blankets rustling, and I snorted, not quite successfully holding back a chuckle. Jake was holding a hand upto his eyes, wincing at the light. He shot up quite quick for someone who had just been snoring his brains out, looked around, and then his eyes settled on me. I felt like quite a badass when I saw fear mixed in with the relief in his eyes.

"Hey, Jake."

Jake's cheeks flushed red, and it amused me to no end that he was blushing, but I also liked that he was, because it showed that he cared what I thought. Hmph. More than anyone could say about that Cullen kid. "Er,...hey, Chief Swan." He glanced over at Bella's still sleeping form. I was about to give him a mock lecture, and give him a bunch of bullshit about what his intentions were with my daughter and all that hoopla when gazed up at me, his dark eyes full of wonder. "She chose me," my heart sank a bit as I realized that he was now comfortable enough to revert to calling me by my civilian name. There was definitely no fear in his eyes now. "Charlie," he continued, sounding like he was choking up slightly, "She said she loves me. Bella loves me."

My mouth dropped open and I gaped in disbelief for a moment, before an earsplitting grin came across my face. I just knew that I looked like an idiot, probably slightly deranged, but honestly, this was some of the best news I could have gotten on a day that was as horrid as this one had been. "Seriously?" I whispered.

The russet skinned boy in front of me nodded, gently disentangling himself from Bella's arms and standing up. "Here, let's go into the kitchen so we don't wake her."

I agreed, actually a little touched. I wouldn't have thought about relocating our conversation so that we didn't wake Bells. But Jake did. I had always known that he had cared about Bella had first returned to Forks, I thought it was just a harmless crush. Then, it looked like puppy love. Now, though, I saw the love of a man shining in his eyes. He was young, yes, but there was absolutely no doubt about his feelings for my little girl. He would go to the ends of the earth for her. Jacob was a guy she deserved. I just hope that her abandonment issues stemming from the departure of the Cullens wouldn't get in the way of her understanding this.

We seated ourselves at the tiny kitchen table, and I asked him to tell me anything. Then I glanced at the clock. 11:30. I shifted in my seat, grabbing the telephone. "Call Billy. So he doesn't worry."

Jake nodded and stepped outside to place his phone call, and came in several minutes later, placing the phone in my hand. "He wants to talk to you." Jake sat down, and tried, and failed, to fit his long legs beneath the table comfortably.

"Hey, old man." I greeted my closest friend. I listened as he inquired as to whether I would be opposed to letting Jake stay overnight, as he was so busy helping to plan Harry's funeral, and what not. "Sure, that's fine with me." We said our goodbyes, and hung up. I desperately wanted to ask Billy if Jake had told him about the recent development that had happened with Bella, but I understood that this was not the time. I set the phone aside. "You're staying here tonight, Jake."

The boy nodded. "He told me as much."

"So what happened tonight? What led up to this?" I questioned.

Jake sighed. "I drove her home in her truck. When we got here, I could sm-" He faltered for a moment. "I mean, I could see that Alice was here. I got upset, because I thought that that meant that Cullen was back. Of course, that's what Bella was hoping for, and she practically jumped out of the truck to see Alice. They went inside, and eventually I came in after them, and Alice gave us some time alone. I was trying to convince Bella that no matter how much she loved Alice, that the Cullens had hurt her. Just then, the phone rang, and it was him." Jake couldn't hide the repulsion he felt. I didn't blame him. We were on the same page there. "He, uh, he asked if you were here, and I told him, no, that you were planning a funeral. Then Alice comes in freaking out, saying that the blonde had called her, and that Edward took what I said to mean that you were planning Bella's funeral..." He and I simultaneously shuddered at that thought. "Alice said that he was planning on killing himself, and she wanted Bella go come with her go to save him."

"What?" I hissed. I had trusted Alice, even though her brother was a pompous prick.

"My thoughts exactly. I begged her not to go, but she was hell bent on going. I told her not to go. I told her to stay ali- to stay for you. And if not for you, than to stay for me. We were hugging, and she was bawling into my chest. Then she pulled away, looked at me, and ran to the steps. A bit later, she went to talk to Alice, and she ended up squealing out of here like a vamp-, I mean bat out of hell."

Jake must be pretty tired, I thought. He kept jumbling up his words, that's for sure.

I gestured for him to continue. "To make a long story short, I ended up bringing Bells in here, putting her on the couch with one of your plaid blanket things. I thought she had fallen asleep, so I was going to leave. I knew that there was a good chance that she had chosen me, but she hadn't confirmed it yet, and I just wanted to go home and sort my feelings out. Just as I got my hand around the doorknob, she sat up and asked me to stay. Then she was telling me all about how she couldn't leave, and she said that she loved me. I wanted to feel as happy as I always had imagined I would to hear those words, but I just keep thinking that at any moment, she's going to realize that she made a mistake, and that she's going to try to get in touch with Alice, and then she'll be racing back to Edward. We talked about it a bit, and she said that she knows she's hurt me alot during the past months, and that she knows it's going to take time to regain my trust, but that she's willing to do whatever it takes. I am excited, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world, but I'm terrified. What if she leaves me? What if I'm just second best, and she's choosing me because it's easy?"

"Oh, Jake." I stood up, went to the fridge, and pulled out two long-neck bottles of beer. I popped them both open and slid one across the table to Jake. He looked at me, shocked.

"Is this some kind of trick or something?" He was studying me suspiciously.

I shook my head. "You can't tell me that Billy hasn't given you a cold one on occasion. Besides, maybe it'll help your nerves. You're bouncing all over the damn place."

He shrugged and took a long swig of his beer. We were quiet for quite a while, until he looked up at me and asked in an unusually small voice, "Is it normal to feel this way? Happier than I've ever been, but so scared?"

I smiled wistfully. I had always imagined having a son after Renee and I had had Bella, before we had split up. And I had always imagined having talks like this with him someday. It was just ironic that I was now having this discussion with Jake, although he was the closest thing to a son that I had. "Jake, I want to tell you that it will get better, but like you said, it's going to take time. Bella made mistakes, and her mistakes hurt you. Once you guys get past that, though, it should get better...kind of. Instead of worrying about her choosing someone else, you'll be worrying if she doesn't give you a call at the same time she always does. You'll always be worried that something has happened to her until you have her in your arms again. No matter what, you're always going to be worrying about the person you love, Jake. That's just the way it is."

"When you and Renee...were..." Jake let his sentence trail off, obviously feeling like he was crossing the line by mentioning my ex-wife.

"Was I worried? Yes. The time I worried the most is when I found out we were expecting Bella. Then, all of a sudden, there's two people you have to worry about, but you know, you can't quite grasp it at first, that there's actually a child, your child, growing inside of your wife. I probably was a bit too overprotective of Renee when she was carrying Bella. I've always wondered if she thought that was my 'true' personality coming out, and that was why she left..."

"Charlie? Do you still love her?"

I nodded, trying to swallow the lump that had suddenly formed in my throat. "She was the only one for me. Obviously I wasn't her only one. I'm glad she's found happiness, but for me, no one can ever compare to Renee. And I would rather be a lonely, pitiful bachelor than to date a woman and have to pretend that she was all I had ever wanted."

Jacob yawned then, and I glanced at the clock again, and inwardly groaned. It was nearing one in the morning. And I had to be into the station early in the morning. This mysterious creature in the woods still needed to be thoroughly investigated and figured out. I was planning on checking it out by myself, so no one else ended up dead because of me. I put my head in my hands, thoughts of guilt once again consuming me.

"It's not your fault you know."

I looked up at Jake in surprise. I opened my mouth but he shook his head.

"I know you're thinking about Harry. It's not your fault. And no one thinks it is. I think...I think maybe you should talk about it though? WIth someone. Bella, Billy, even me, if that's what you want. But penting up feelings...it never ends well, Charlie."

"You're wise beyond your years, Jake. Anybody ever tell you that?"

Jake picked up his beer, drank down the last of it. He stood, and placed his bottle in the recycling bin. "Bells, maybe once or twice. But the other guys in the tribe don't really listen to the young guys like me." He shrugged. "They're too busy acting like idiots to take the time to listen to anyone else, anyway."

"Don't let them tear you down, Jake. You're great. I know so. And Bella knows so. The only opinions that matter are those of who you care about." I smiled at him, and stood. But now this old fart has to get to bed. I've got an early day." I stood, also properly disposing of my beer bottle. "We don't have a spare room...or a spare couch, obviously, since Bella is crashed on it. I can take her up to her room, so you can have the couch?"

"If you don't mind, I can just grab a pillow and a blanket, and sleep on the floor." He flushed deep red at the look that crossed my face. "I just want to be around when she wakes up. I don't want her thinking I left her. She's so fragile, still, and I don't want to be responsible for making it worse."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I swear, Jacob Black, if you try any funny business, you'll regret it. I have my guns all polished and ready just in case Cullen ever tries to show up here again. I will use them."

"I love her Charlie. And there won't be any funny business. She needs her rest. And she needs to see me here when she wakes up. She needs to know that she can count on me." He met my eyes boldly, and I approved. He was shoing me that he wasn't embarrassed admitting these things to me, no matter how personal they may be. "You might come downstairs in the morning, and I might be holding her, but nothing beyond that. The last thing she needs to think is that I'm just after her for sex. Not to say that when and if that happens that it wouldn't be amazing, but-"

"God, Jake! Enough, enough, enough!" I walked into the hallway, reached into a closet, grabbed a pillow and a handful of blankets without looking and tossed them at Jake. "Look, I realize that if I'm going to be realistic that I have to accept that one day, ...it might happen between you and Bella. But that doesn't mean I want to think about it, and if definitely doesn't mean that I want to hear you talk about it!"

Now the giant of a teenager had the good sense to look embarassed, and he sheepishly apologized.

Sighing, I glanced at him. "I can't bitch at you too much. I know what it's like to be in love, and I'm just glad you're thinking of Bella in a sweet and respectful way, rather than how some boys might think about her." I yawned, stretched, and made my way into the living room, wishing Jake good night, and placing a kiss on Bella's forehead. I pointed a finger at him before heading upstairs. "Don't forget though, any funny business, and I'll know. "Fatherly instincts, you know." I decided to ignore that when I took a last glance behind me, Jake's broad shoulders were shaking with silent laughter.