I didn´t want to leave you worrying too much about Charlie, so here´s chapter 2.

Thanx for the reviews, please keep them coming :)

(And I do not own any of the characters to the story)

Enjoy :)

Strong

Suddenly, I couldn´t move. I couldn´t run anymore. My dad. Something was wrong with my dad. Why couldn´t he at least be safe?

Edward stopped when I did and came to hold me. He caught me just before I fell to my knees. He kissed me on my forehead and sighed.

"I don´t know the details, love. But we need to hurry so we can find out for sure," he tried to reason with my sudden unwillingness to move. I literally couldn´t move. My head was spinning; I thought I was going to pass out, throw up or combust.

"Do you need me to carry you, love?" Edward asked softly. I didn´t answer, I had no voice. I was afraid that if I tried to use my voice I would only scream. Edward scooped me from the ground and started running. "I´m sorry, love. I´m so sorry."

Why was Edward sorry? This wasn´t his fault. Edward didn´t hurt my dad. I wanted to ask him what he was going on about, but I still couldn´t speak. I couldn´t even turn my head. As if he knew what I was thinking he continued to apologize.

"I shouldn´t have said anything. Not before I knew what was going on. Please love, forgive my thoughtfulness."

OK, so he was beating himself up because he had been honest. I would have demanded to know what it was, no matter what. It wasn´t his fault that my body and voice had suffered a total melt down. He was just being fair, after all I always claimed I didn´t need protection anymore. I wasn´t fragile anymore. Apparently my dad was my soft spot.

This time I turned around in his arms and lifted my hand to his cheek. I tried to give him an understanding look, a look that would get him off the hook. But I knew him to well. He would keep blaming himself no matter what. So I placed my head to his marble chest and was trying very hard to compose myself.

We were close to the house now and I had had some time to collect myself now. I decided that I would try to speak.

"Don´t be sorry. This is not your fault." I said with a very small voice. "We knew this day would come sometime. I was just not prepared. I´m sorry."

Edward let out a snort, "YOU don´t have anything to be sorry about, love. I was the one who should have been more..."

I cut him off, I didn´t want to hear him blame himself.

"Stop it, Edward," my voice was nearly normal now. "I don´t need protection. I´m not as fragile as I used to be anymore. You have done nothing wrong."

Edward slowed down. Apparently we were at the house.

"I´m able to walk now. I think," I said. So Edward released me to the ground.

We both reached the door and ran inside to confront Alice. Carlilse was the one who met us in the hall. He was headed out by the looks of it.

Edward looked concentrated. He was reading Carlisle´s thoughts.

"I´ll explain in the car, hurry up," Carlisle said.

"Charlie was on his way to our house in a surprise visit for Nessie when the breaks on the car failed. We don´t know yet if it was sabotage or just an accident. The car ended off the road and into the woods. He hit a tree. He was unconscious when he arrived at the hospital. He´ll need surgery and that´s all we know at this point. I volunteered to perform the surgery, and I promise Bella, I´ll do whatever I can to save your father." Edward had his eyes on me during Carlisle´s explanation. I swallowed and straightened up.

"Thank you, Carlisle. It means a lot to me that you´re here. Thank you." All I could think was that Carlisle would make it better. Carlisle would safe my dad, he wouldn´t let anything happen. And by that note I was soothed for the time being. I felt Edward squeeze my hand.

"Alice is really sorry she didn´t see it happen a lot sooner, but Charlie made a spur of the moment decision to come. She wasn´t keeping taps on him today. She feels so guilty," Carlisle told us. "She feels that she could have saved him if she had just paid attention."

"This isn´t Alice´s fault. She can´t be everywhere and she can´t fix every human problem that comes along," I said firmly. Nobody should feel guilty, at least nobody but me.

When we arrived at the hospital we were met by Sue, Seth and Leah. Sue couldn´t stop sobbing and Leah tried really hard to comfort her. Seth was obviously really relieved that we were finally there. He ran towards me and took me in his arms and hugged me tightly. Edward was still holding me around the waist. I hugged Seth back, released him and gave him at look of reassurance.

Sue was still sobbing on Leah's shoulder. I walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Her body jumped a little at my cold touch, but she turned to me.

"Bella, I´m…. I´m…, " she stuttered.

I hugged her and tried to soothe her with my hand on her back.

"It´ll work out, Sue. He will get better. Carlisle is with him now, taking him to surgery. He´ll get the best care. But we have to be strong. We have to support him, Sue. He´ll need us when he wakes up." Trying real hard to sound like I really believed he was going to wake up.

"I know, I´m trying," was her only words.

All we could do now was to wait. For the second time that day I thought of the concept of time. Only this time it felt like time was going by way to slow. Minutes felt like hours or days. I tried real hard not to seem worried; I tried to hold up a strong face for Sue.

Edward had called the house and asked if Jasper could stop by. Leah frowned at the idea of another bloodsucker in the waiting area, but she didn´t say anything out loud. She knew her mother needed the calm Jasper could give her.

Being the son and the daughter-in-law of a highly respected doctor at the hospital had its perks. We could get information much sooner than usual procedure. Plus the fact that Edward could and would read the minds of all the doctors and nurses. As long as he was calm so was I.

Sue was calm the instant Jasper arrived. So far that plan worked fine. Alice came with him and she didn´t look worried. I sent her a questioning look and she came to sit by me.

"It´s going to be fine," she said. "Your dad is very strong. He wants to survive." Her head turned to Sue and then she flashed a radiant smile. "He has found happiness. And this time, I do believe that he will follow through."

"What do you mean ´this time´?" I asked puzzled. I knew Charlie and Sue meant a lot to each other, but they never acted on it.

"I don´t know if I should be the one to tell you this, Bella..."

"Alice!" I hissed at her. Now was definitely not the time to be cryptic with me.

"All right, then. Your dad and Sue have been together for the last 5 years as you may know. But they never felt right to make it official. They never felt that you were ready to handle your dad in a new relationship. At least not when you had a lot of other things on your mind." Alice met my gaze and looked a little worried.

Suddenly I felt guilty. Was I the reason my dad had trouble moving on with his newfound happiness. That certainly never was my intent. All of this time I just assumed that they were the ones that wasn´t ready to become public. Never in a million years had I thought that I could or would be the reason. I didn´t want to be an obstacle, I didn´t want to be the reason that he was still alone. I wanted more than anything for my dad to be happy and never alone.

Edward noticed my silence and it had him worried. "Alice!" he was irritated now. "Why are you making her feel guilty? That´s not what she needs right now."

"No, Edward," I hurried to speak before it got out of hand. "It´s all right. I needed to know. I´m just surprised; that´s all. Don´t worry about me. I´m fine," I smiled at him.

I decided that I would give them my blessing and ask forgiveness for being the reason of keeping them apart for 5 years. The truth was that time didn´t stand still for any of them. They were not getting any younger. I wanted my dad to have someone by his side as he grew old. I wasn´t sure, that I was able of being there for him for the remaining of his life. Not a thought I lingered on at this point.

Alice suddenly squealed with excitement. I glared at her. This was hardly the time to be overly excited about anything.

"Sorry," she said. Then she leaned towards me to whisper something in my ear. "I see a wedding in the near future," she said in a low but still very excited voice.

I smiled at her. Right now I just needed to focus my strength to help my farther heal. When that was done we could focus on his happiness with Sue. A thought suddenly occurred to me and I let out a sigh and then smiled to myself.

"What are you smiling at, love?" Edward whispered in my ear. I could hear in his voice that he was relieved that I was smiling.

"I just realized something," I said. I was so relieved. Why didn´t I think of that before. This was perfect.

"Tell me, you know I can´t read your mind," Edward asked a little impatient.

"This is perfect," I said. "He´ll be safe now. Even when we can´t be around to protect him. He´ll be safe."

"I don´t follow you," he said puzzled.

"If my dad marries Sue, he´ll have the protection of both packs. He´ll be family to them all. And both mortals and immortals will be very foolish to pick a fight with the wolves." I smiled at my perfect husband. This was perfect, my dad would be safe. I didn´t even think that the Volturi would attack any of the La Push crowd.

Edward smiled at me and kissed my forehead.

We had waited for hours for Carlisle to come out of the surgery room to confirm Alice´s vision of Charlie being fine. By now I was a little impatient. Why wasn´t it over yet. What was taking so long? Surely Alice would tell me if her vision changed. Or would she?

I looked up and met Edward´s gaze. I tried to analyze his expression, but failed. The tension in the room was tense, even with Jasper doing his thing.

"Ugh, I can´t stand this waiting and not knowing or being able to do something," I snapped. "Why haven´t we heard anything by now?" No one answered my question.

"Alice? Edward?" I looked at them expectantly.

"I´m not sure," Alice said a little uncertain looking up at Edward.

Edward shook his head when he thought I didn´t notice.

"Oh no you don´t," I hissed. "Don´t keep it from me. Tell me what´s wrong."

Edward took my hand and lowered his head. Uh-uh. Something was definitely wrong.

"There was a complication, but Carlisle is working real hard to make it right. He´s not out of the bush yet, but neither Carlisle nor Charlie has given up yet. It´ll be a while longer." He then lifted my chin up with his hand. I looked him straight in the eyes. It pained him to tell me this.

"Thank you for being straight with me," I whispered. Afraid of breaking down, I placed my head to his chest. He just held me and said nothing. As usual I was glad Edward couldn´t read my mind, it would torture him to know my thoughts.

Two hours passed. No one said a word. We never even looked at each other. Suddenly Edward let go of his hold on me and took a few steps forward towards the door. Carlisle entered the room.

"I´m sorry for keeping you waiting this long," he said. "Charlie had multiple internal bleedings and we were almost too late. He lost a lot of blood during the operation, but he´s going to be fine. He´s still sedated and will b e out for the next 3 hours or so."

I let out a huge sigh of relief. He was going to make it. Sue was crying now, but it was tears of relief.

"We can only allow one visitor at the time. At least until he wakes up," Carlisle said with regret in his voice. So the perks stopped here obviously.

Sue turned to me and was about to speak. I took her hand in mine and said, "Tell him I love him, and I will see him as soon as he wakes up."

She was really surprised, but she gave me a quick hug and just mouthed, "Thank you." Tears were in her eyes as she followed Carlisle to the room where Charlie was. I hoped she could be strong enough for Charlie. She had to. Anyway it wasn´t my place anymore, I knew that now.

I closed my eyes and took a sharp breath. This was a really, really bad experience, but I knew that it could have been so much worse. What would have happened if my worst fear had come to life? The possibility was still there, the Volturi hunting down my mortal family in a final attempt to get what they want. But we wouldn´t let that happen, Charlie would live a long and happy life with Sue. He didn´t need to know anymore than he already did. We would keep him safe, and so would the packs.

The sad part was that I knew that I wouldn´t be able to keep Charlie forever. I would have to let him go sooner or later.

I must have looked sad, because Edward hugged me tight and whispered in my ear, "It´ll be all right, love. Charlie´s going to make it, he´s very strong. And by the way, happy birthday, love." Edward smiled at me.

Oh how I loved that smile and the person behind it. Of course whenever it was Nessies birthday it would be my birthday to. 5 years as a vampire, time sure did fly by way to fast.

"Thank you," I said and smiled back. I could stand there and look into his eyes for all eternity, but the day wasn´t over yet so we got to the car and went back to the house to celebrate the Cullen princess some more.

When we got back to the house, Alice and Jasper had already told the others the details and had picked up the party where we all left it hours ago.

Nessie got up from the floor and ran to hug me and Edward. "Is Grandpa Charlie OK?" she asked.

"He will be, sweetheart," I said. "I´m sorry we scared you like this. Especially on your birthday."

She wiped away a few tears and smiled at me, "I´ll be fine, mom. Don´t worry about me."

We hugged each other and went to sit with the others.

I turned to face Edward and said with a smile on my lips, "I really am sorry for all the terrible worrying I put you through."

Edward looked very puzzled at me. "What are you talking about, Bella?"

"I never imagined how many things I really have to worry about when it comes to Charlie. He is only a fragile human. A car accident, never in a million years did I…"

"Déjà vu!" Emmet practically shouted.

I turned around and so did Edward.

"Emmet!" Edward shot Emmet a warning glare.

"Ouch, I guess I hit a nerve there. Never mind me then." He turned around grinning.

"What are you on about, Emmet," I asked. "Tell me."

"Nothing, Bella. It´s just that when you arrived to Forks your husband there wouldn´t stop whining about how fragile you were. How you might get sick or hurt. That´s all," Emmet answered.

Rose hit Emmet on the back of his head, "Nice one, Em," she said.

He giggled but he had to soothe the back of his head with his hand.

"Like I said before. I´m really, really sorry Edward." I totally got the point now. Why Edward had been so overprotecting before my transformation. I knew that I couldn´t protect Charlie from ever getting hurt, And eventually he would die. This was the price I had to pay for the life I had chosen.

"Don´t be sorry, love," Edward took me in his arms and kissed my hair, "I just know how you feel right now. And I will be there for you. Every step of the way."

That was all I needed to know. For now anyway.