Chapter Eight: Breaking Point

A week had passed since that day with Edward in the park. And honestly, I spent a majority of it with the Cullen's. Alice and Edward always found a way to include me in whatever was happening at the Cullen house. On Wednesday, they actually invited me to go up to Port Angeles with them to go eat at some random restaurant they had seen once while down here scoping out houses. And when I tried to pay my own tab, I was glared at by four sets of beautiful eyes.

By Friday, I found myself wanting to be with them more because they made me feel like a normal girl with a normal family. But every night when I went home to my drunken father, I knew that my reality was always lurking behind me, waiting to explode in my face. Charlie was getting more and more fed up with me being with the Cullen's all the time. I had somehow managed to avoid telling him the name of the family I had been spending so much time with. I wanted to keep the Cullen's away from so he didn't taint them. The Cullen's were my happy place, and I didn't want this Charlie involved in that.

Either way, he was getting upset that I wasn't home to clean up his latest messes, whether it was his vomit or the last meal he had just eaten. I got frustrated with him easier now, but I had somehow managed to keep my cool and act normal.

It was Saturday now, and I had just gotten out of work (my shift went from 11-6). As usual, I changed in the bathroom at Joan's so I could comfortably walk home. My truck was still on the fritz and I hadn't gotten around to calling up Jacob Black, Billy's son, to fix it up for me.

It was a somewhat pleasant day out. It wasn't hot or anything, but it was warm enough to walk home without freezing my butt of and the sun was shining clear in the sky.

Who knew the storm would be waiting for me when I got home?

As I walked in the door, I saw Charlie in his normal hangover position, sprawled out on the couch. I sighed as I brought him his aspirin and a glass of water. He glared at me as I set them down next to him.

"Where have you been?" He asked sternly, sitting up.

"Work, dad. But I'm leaving again in a few minutes to go to a friend's house for dinner. I'll be back by 7." Rosalie had invited me over this time. She and Emmett came home for the weekend while Alice and Edward went out on a college visit. I was a little nervous to be going there without Edward or Alice, but I figured it would be okay.

He glared at me. "Who are these damn people anyways?" He barked at me. "You're always with them now."

"They're just some friends from school dad. And of course I'm spending time with them. We're very close."

I was getting fed up with his attitude, but I figured that leaving would do the trick. By the time I got home, he'd be so immersed in his game that he wouldn't care where I had been. He'd just ask me to make him a sandwich and that would be that.

But that's when he would say the one thing that would break the camel's back. That's when he said the one thing that would make me reach my breaking point.

He glared at me again, no trace of the Charlie I knew in his eyes.

"You're just like your damn mother. If you're going to leave, then get the heck out now and don't bother coming back."

I stared at him stunned. I couldn't believe what he just said to me. It hurt worse than a slap in the face would have.

I grabbed the remote from his hand and turned the TV off. Then I chucked the remote at the wall.

"Hey!" Charlie yelled.

"I am nothing like my mother you bastard." I said to him. He froze and just stared at me.

"You watch what you say young lady. I'm your father."

"No, you're not! If you were my father, you would actually give a damn about me. You would be the one taking care of me, not the other way around. Ever since Renee left, all you do is drink your troubles away. News flash, Charlie! She left both of us! Did you ever think about how I feel about it? About how I feel about having a mother who didn't want me and a father who apparently doesn't either? You just told me to leave and never come back because I'm out trying to be happy, but I can't ever be happy because I know what waits for me when I get home. My drunken father."

I was crying by this point, but I was so fired up that I couldn't stop myself.

"She left both of us." I repeated. "But at least I'm out in the world trying to make the best of life, unlike you! All you do is go to work, come home, and drink. And then you expect me to clean up the mess! But that's supposed to be your job, Charlie. You're supposed to clean up the messes and teach me how to. But you haven't done shit since she left. I've had to grow up by myself since that day in 5th grade. That's almost 8 years of me growing up without you. Because you haven't been there. And what I don't understand is why I keep coming home to clean everything up for you. I don't understand why I actually cover for you and try to salvage your reputation. I hate being known as the Police Chief's daughter because I know that it's not a good thing."

He sat there, not saying a word, but looking at me with somewhat clear eyes.

"Look at me Charlie. I'm not a little girl you can brush off anymore. I'm not a little girl you can lie to. I know that my mother cheated on you. I know that she didn't want me, that she referred to me as "the kid." You missed everything, Charlie. You are not my father. You were once, but you aren't anymore. And guess what?"I said as I grabbed my cell phone and my jacket that I had placed on a nearby chair. "I'm going to grant your wish. I'm out of here. Have fun with your bottle."

I turned around and ran from the house, my feet taking me somewhere my mind couldn't comprehend yet. I wasn't surprised when I ended up at the Cullen's house 20 minutes later, out of breath with a red and blotchy face.

I ran to the door and rang the doorbell.

A very smiley Emmett answered the door, but the smile disappeared as he registered the look on my face.

"Bells? What the hell happened?" He demanded.

I started sobbing again, and he put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into the house.

"Esme! Carlisle! Come here! I need you!"

I heard feet pounding around the house and then a surprised feminine gasp. I looked up and through my blurred vision, I saw Esme staring at me, her breathtaking face distressed.

"Oh, goodness!" She said as she ran to me, pulling me from Emmett's embrace and escorting me into the living room. She sat me down on the love seat.

And then something happened that I had been yearning for since that day in 5th grade. Esme pulled me into her embrace, pulling my head down to her shoulder, and stroked my hair with a loving caress.

"Shh, it's okay sweetie. I'm here, its okay." She said as she stroked my head.

And I knew she was right.

I heard Carlisle walk in and sit on the coffee table in front of us, taking my hand in his as Esme continued to hold me.

"What time did Edward say they would be back?" I heard Emmett ask from the doorway.

Carlisle answered him. "Around 8. They were only there for one night."

"Come on dear." Esme said, standing me up. My sobbing had calmed down slightly so I could walk without falling over.

Esme led me up the stairs and to a room all the way over on the other side of the house, keeping her arm around me the entire time. She opened a door for me, leading me into a room that was only lit by the evening sun coming in the huge window. The room was overall very neat, only a few random articles of clothing lying in various locations around the room. There was a large bed in the middle of a room, pushed up against the back wall, and a black couch that was pushed up against the window. There were stacks and stacks of CDs on the opposite side of the room from the couch. There was also a very expensive looking stereo system next to the CDs.

And lying across the floor next to the CDs was a flannel shirt that looked awfully familiar. And I knew instantly that it was Edward's room.

"Go ahead and make yourself at home." Esme said as she gave me a kiss on the forehead. "When you're ready, you can come talk to me or Carlisle or anyone about what happened that made you so upset." She gave me one last squeeze before she walked out, leaving me alone in Edward's room.

I walked over to the couch, deciding it looked comfortable, and curled up in the corner, wishing more than anything that Edward was here now. He somehow always knew what to say and what to do to calm me down. They calm way he always acted was comforting to me, and I needed that right now. And I wanted him to be the first one I told everything to. He deserved to be.

As I stared out his window, watching the sun go down slowly, I wondered what Charlie was doing right now. Was he actually taking into consideration what I had said to him? Or was he just drinking even more now because he knows he lost mom and may lose me too? Or did he even care? Was I just an annoyance in his life that he was happy to be rid of? Did he even remember that I was gone?

My heart broke as I thought of that last possibility being true. I had always told myself that even though he drank all the time and acted as though he didn't care, inside, he really did. I just figured if I ever really needed him, he would always be there. But he didn't say a word as I ran from the door. He didn't even try to stop me, didn't even say anything.

My sobbing started up once again as I pondered this. Why did my mom have to be so selfish? Why did my dad have to choose the bottle as a way of drowning his problems?

I heard talking in the hallway.

"Come on mom. Just let me go talk to her. Bells loves me." I heard Emmett say.

"Emmett, leave her alone. Trust me, I'm a mom. I know that right now she needs time to think. Plus, we all know that…" Esme started whispering after that, so I couldn't hear what she was saying.

I pulled my legs up to my chest, holding them there as I put my back up against the arm rest, facing away from the door and looking out the window.

I don't know how long I sat there in the dark before I heard someone quietly entering the room. I didn't look up, just kept staring out the window.

I didn't look up when someone sat down on the couch with me either, but I knew who it was. I could feel his eyes burning a hole in the side of my face. He didn't say anything for a few minutes, just sat there staring at me while I stared out the window.

After a few moments, he reached forward and touched my cheek, turning it in his direction so that my eyes were locked onto his. He must have seen the devastation in my eyes, because he gasped quietly.

"Bella, what happened? Talk to me." He begged.

I looked into his eyes and found the confidence that I needed to speak. He would understand. He had to understand.

"It's…hard for me to talk about." I said quietly.

He reached out and grabbed my waist pulling me to him. He had one leg up on the couch and the other was flopped lazily on the ground off to the side. I was now sitting between his legs.

"Tell me." He said quietly. "You can tell me anything, Bella. I'll never judge you. I promise."

I looked back down at my hands, knowing he was right. I could trust him.

"Well, there's more to the story then my mom just leaving. My dad…was never really there either." I said quietly.

Edward gave me a very strange look. "Have you been living on your own this entire time, Bella?" Edward asked, looking concerned.

I realized how he must have construed my words, and started talking immediately.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean it like that. He's been there. Every day when I come home from school or work, he's there. He just…hasn't been there for me since my mom left."I said as I looked back out the window.

Edward was silent as I thought about what I was going to say and how I wanted to say it.

"I remember the first time I saw Charlie drunk." I began. I looked back up at Edward, and noticed that his eyebrows were raised. "I was still in fifth grade. It wasn't even a full week after Renee had left. I had just gotten dropped off by the bus and I walked inside the house. I expected to see Charlie as he normally was when I got home. Sitting on the couch, a soda in hand, watching a game. He'd ask me how my day was, acting like he was so proud when I handed him my 100% on a spelling test. Well that day, he wasn't waiting for me. He was in the kitchen with an open bottle of something I had only ever seen mommy and daddy use on special occasions." I sneered on the words mommy and daddy, remembering a time when I actually looked at them in that light.

"But when they drank it on special occasions, it was in tiny glasses, and they'd only have one or two. That day, he just drank out of the bottle. He didn't use a glass. And when I came in, brandishing a 100% I had gotten on my math test, he just took the paper and threw it behind him onto the table. I was so upset. I didn't know why daddy wasn't proud of his little girl for doing so well. I asked him why he was acting funny. He didn't answer me. He just walked away, bottle in hand, and went to sit on the couch. I don't think I've ever seen him since then without him being drunk or hungover.

"Tonight, it was the usual thing." I said while a tear ran down my cheek. I quickly brushed it away. "I came home to see him lying on the couch, his arm covering his eyes to block out the sunlight because he was so hungover. But this time, he told me I was going out too much. And then he had the damn nerve to compare me with my mother. I am nothing like my mother. I would never leave my family like that, just up and leave my daughter like that. I am nothing like her. And for him to compare me to her…it broke my heart. I've tried so hard to make sure that no one would ever relate me to the woman that I am ashamed to call my mother. And he completely ruined that for me."

Edward sat quietly while I finished my story, and didn't say anything for a few moments after. I waited for him to say something, anything, to let me know that he understood, or would at least try to.

Right when I was about to get desperate and beg him to say something, he finally spoke.

"I don't know your mother." Edward began quietly. "But I do know you. And I know that you're a wonderful girl. You're strong and smart. You're sweet and so damn stubborn. But you're not a quitter. You put everyone else before you. You are so selfless that even though it hurt you, you let your father grieve for about eight years for something that you never got the opportunity to grieve for."

His words made me tear up. He was so sweet and kind that it made my heart swell.

"And Bella, I can tell you right now, that you are nothing like your mother."

And with those words, I cracked. Even though, like he said, he didn't know my mom, his words reassured me. I leaned into him, sobbing, and just like I had always hoped for, he leaned forward and put his arms around me, holding me close.

"Thank you." I sobbed. "Thank you so much."

He rubbed my back as he held me, not saying anything. But I felt the support in his touch. I knew that he understood and that he accepted it.