Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight; it is the property of Stephenie Meyer. The original characters and plot are mine. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to my lovely Beta Biddy429 !!!

Chapter 3

"Bella? Time to get up." Charlie's voice called through the door as he knocked softly, and I rolled over.

"What time is it?" I groaned back and he chuckled opening the door. Charlie always knocked on my bedroom door before entering my room, even as a little girl and for as long as I can remember. Mind you if I didn't want him to come in for whatever reason I was quick to let him know about it! I looked up at him frowning, I am normally a morning person so I must have slept like the dead as I really did not feel like waking up, and it must be really early for me to feel like this!

"9 am" He answered and my eyebrows shot up. I never slept till 9am; I was always up at 7, sometimes earlier. Charlie just laughed at my expression and turned to leave. "Oh and I'm making eggs for breakfast, how many for you?" I held up two fingers as I yawned and stretched. After Charlie left my room, I looked out the window; I noticed that it was grey out, so much for waking with the sun. I stumbled out of bed and kneeling down to look in my bags for something to wear I pulled out a tank top and a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans that were loose-ish and comfy. Not stylish but no one had ever accused me of that so this worked fine for me.

I washed and dressed quickly then ran a brush through my hair. I still had a few bruises that warranted the long sleeved sweatshirt and the padding seemed like a good idea for my very sore ribs! I went downstairs to the kitchen, sat at the table and Charlie placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of me and told me to dig in. He was worried about how thin I was so I tried to eat everything on the plate.

"Great breakfast Charlie" I said clearing my plate. My appointment was at 10am so unless we wanted to be late we had to leave now. Charlie grabbed his keys and we were off. I realised just how small this town is when we pulled up at the hospital, it had always seemed big when I was little, but now it looked like a big clinic rather than a hospital, also a little worn but not in disrepair.

"No need to be frightened Bella" Charlie chuckled and I realise that I must have looked terrified!

I glared at him and just shook my head – "frightened, me, are you kidding? Let's get this show on the road" I don't think I was fooling him somehow. I haven't been in a hospital in nearly two years and I felt a pang of sadness before pushing the thought away. I smiled up at him and he knew where I had gone. I will not think of the past I will not. Moving forward not looking back, that was what I was going to do. I chanted over and over as I entered the little hospital and let Charlie ask the receptionist where we needed to be.

We were directed to the main ER waiting area and each took a seat on one of the uncomfortable hospital chairs. We sat and waited neither of us talking as I did my best to not look at anyone. It took just over 20 minutes for a nurse to call my name and ask us to follow her to an examination room. Sadly that's all she did do and promptly left us there waiting for Dr. Cullen to arrive. Charlie looked pleased to discover it was to be this Dr Cullen so he must be a good doctor or a fishing buddy.

"Dr. Cullen's a good man Bells. I have heard nothing but good things about the man. He and his wife have five teenagers, they will be going to school with you" He commented probably trying to get me to loosen my grip on the arms of the chair I was sitting on. "There's no reason to be this worked up Bells, I know it's hard to be in this environment but really..." he cut himself off as the door opened and the doctor entered. He had short blond hair, his skin was pale and he had honey coloured eyes, full of compassion. He looked young really young to have teenage kids, I mused!

"Chief Swan it's nice to see you again" he said, his voice professional but not cold. He was young but not cocky and had a good reputation. His eyes moved to me and he smiled at me expectantly.

"Dr. Cullen, Charlie please, and this is my niece Bella. She'll be staying with me from now on" Charlie said his voice turning a little harsher on the last part and I blushed. Nodding my head in welcome as my throat felt tight I tried to relax.

"Carlisle then and it is a pleasure to meet you Bella, welcome to Forks" he said with a kindly voice and I relaxed a bit more. "Now what can I do for you?" he asked and I tried to focus on the sound of his voice and forget where I was.

"Bella has a couple of broken ribs and I just wanted to make sure the journey from Phoenix didn't make anything worse. Her doctor in Jacksonville suggested that it could happen" Charlie said as he took my hand in his and I smiled up at him though it probably looked more like a grimace. "Bella has a hard time with hospitals" Charlie explained and I silently thanked him for saying only that.

Somehow I don't think I would mind Carlisle knowing about... everything but I wasn't ready to have that conversation. Pushing aside my anxiety I tried to think of this as a giant clinic not a hospital not where people constantly died. I knew I had to look a mess, a little too pale, sweating and fidgeting like I was.

"Well I can assure you Bella there is nothing to fear but if you could hop up here and let me have a look then we can get out of here quicker" He said and I nodded returning to reality and feeling a bit calmer. Climbing onto the examining table I shifted and grimaced as a wave of pain hit me, "Are you alright Bella?" he asked and I nodded taking deep breaths. "Okay if you could take off your sweater and pull up your shirt so I can have a look?"

It was easier to move myself when I knew where and what would hurt. As I lifted my shirt, I could feel Carlisle stiffen and knew he could see the bruises that most people would have missed at first glance. I blushed knowing that my ribs were still rather multicoloured. Carlisle moved towards me and gently laid his cold hand on some of my bruises.

"Bella how did you sustain these injuries?" Carlisle asked and I looked at Charlie. What doI say, I begged silently and he shrugged, it was up to me, here goes......

"My er, my father" I said simply not even trying to lie. "That's why I moved to Forks" I finished and he nodded grimly. He very gently pressed on my ribs but it didn't hurt nearly as bad as when the doctor in Jacksonville had examined me.

"Well they seemed to be in the right positions but should be wrapped to protect them" Carlisle said "it needs to be firm but not too tight, it might be best if Charlie helps you wrap them rather than you doing it by yourself" He said as he worked and I nodded. I don't think I could even attempt to wrap them myself. Once he had finished he stood back lowering my shirt, "I would like you to come back in a couple of weeks to check on how they are healing but other than that I think your good to go?" he said and I nodded pulling my sweatshirt on.

"Thank you Carlisle." Charlie said and I nodded climbing down from the table with a wobble to which Carlisle looked at me curiously.

"Not the most graceful" I said blushing deeply, "thank you Dr. Cullen" I said and he smiled.

"Please call me Carlisle and your most welcome Bella. Have a good day you two." He said before leaving us in the small room. As we walked out into the parking lot I thought about how much better a doctor Carlisle was compared to most of those in my past.

"Now let's go buy something expensive but not too flashy" I said and Charlie laughed with me as we drove off to the car lot.

****

"Oooh, I like the dark green one" I commented and Charlie just shook his head. It had come to the point where I had told him the colours I liked and he could pick out the car. I really didn't care what it was but it needs to expensive. "Okay I like the California one" I said looking at Charlie who just grinned at me stupidly.

"You mean the Ferrari California" Charlie said as we turned to the sales guy that had been following us making useless suggestions. He looked between me and Charlie and looked confused.

"Yeah I want that one" I said sounding bratty and spoiled, Charlie laughed but didn't correct me. "What colours do you have?" I asked looking at my finger nails. "Cause I want it to be dark green or blue" I said doing my best not to sound totally valley girl. Charlie was doing his best not to start laughing but he was starting to turn a funny colour. I suppressed the giggle building in the back of my throat.

"This way miss" The guy finally managed to say and I rolled my eyes and walked in front of him. Finally Charlie broke out in laughter and I smiled evilly. The poor guy looked so confused. "Is something wrong sir?"

"Nah, ignore him, he's nuts" I said. "So can I pay for it all at once and get some kind of deal?" I asked and he started to look suspicious. "I will be paying with a debit card" I said and the guy looked at me like I had turned into a vampire or something. "It's only around $250,000 right?" I asked and he nodded at this point just gaping at me. "Well then I have that in cash if you would prefer" Charlie and I had discussed this earlier and thought cash might work better than debit, I really didn't like carrying this much money though it's kind of asking to be mugged. Charlie started laughing again when the guy looked confused and led us to his manager.

****

"That poor guy." I said laughing as I waited with Charlie for them to do whatever it was after the papers were signed and the money paid.

"He's probably wondering where you got that kind of money" said Charlie. Sure he wasn't loaded but I knew he did okay for himself. Sides I have money enough for the both of us even if he could never have bought me this car I knew he would have helped me buy something if I needed it.

I shrugged and said "none of his business is it – just because we didn't come in here wearing designer clothes it doesn't mean we don't have the cash to buy one of their cars, does it! Anyway, the money doesn't mean much to me so I don't care how much I spend!" Just at that moment my beautiful new deep blue California drew up alongside me – the colour didn't really bother me – as long as it had an engine I didn't care, I just smiled and thought, well at least I have this!

"So do I call her California or name her something more unique?" I asked Charlie and he smiled at me shaking his head. "What do you think or Cally?" I said and he looked at me sharply and I agreed, "Nope, maybe Nia?" I asked and he shrugged. "Nia it is then." We walked up to the manager who held out the keys to me.

"You are now the proud owner of this beautiful car" He said and I smiled at him.

"Hey, its not just any car, it's my car and her name is Nia, oh and thanks for your help, gotta be going now" I said taking the keys. The sales guy had sorted out the insurance and stuff for me, and there was a full tank of gas so maybe we could have some fun on the drive home! Charlie stopped me and I turned to look at him.

"Remember you need other things too, we could pick up some bedding for you on the way home" he said laughing at my excitement. I nodded and made sure to follow behind the cruiser we drove to the store. It was fairly close to the dealership another sign of how small this town is.

"Okay Charlie, lets shop!" I called from my car as I locked it and walked him smiling. At least some of the awkward tension and stilted conversation had eased. I grabbed some blue bedding and other knickknacks for my room. I had chosen a small desk and bed side table, neat zebra garbage can, CD player and little rug. We managed to load Charlie's cruiser to bursting and then I noticed an electronics store and figured I might as well get rid of all of the cash I had, Phil's money burned in my pocket.

I pointed to the store and Charlie nodded so I went on ahead to see if they had a laptop. I was quite good with computers so maybe I would get them to set up a wireless connection for me at Charlie's, he had suggested a dial-up connection and I cringed at the thought of it – just goes to show how behind the times this little town is!!! Maybe they didn't have wireless available yet; oh they must have surely, its 2010! The tech guy said that they could send someone to hook us up and deliver the laptop so I paid for it all along with additional insurance which would not go wrong.

After most of my 'I'm so sorry about beating you' cash was spent we went and deposited the rest in the bank then went home to get my room in order. As far as I was concerned there was still far too much left of it for my tastes but there was so little I really needed. Tomorrow I would go grocery shopping and cook for Charlie and I but tonight pizza would have to do. Charlie as usual watched the game and ate his pizza in silence, I handed him a can of Vitamin R which he took absently, his full concentration now on the game! This was Charlie's world now and no one can intervene! For some reason I liked that he didn't put on any pretence with me and was just himself.

I sat back and thought about what the future might hold for me. I had spent nowhere near all the money he had given me but at the same time I felt like I should give it back and yell at him for thinking it made anything better. Phil would try to apologies after the rehab session I just didn't want to think about what that meant. Would he think that since I had spent the money that I forgave him? Knowing that there wasn't anything I could do I settled for going to bed and kissed Charlie good night after my second piece of pizza.

My room looked nice and more like me now so I flopped on my bed and regretted it instantly as pain shot through me. I lay still for a short while and let the pain pass, I smacked my head for forgetting about my stupid ribs. Staring at the ceiling I thought about nothing and everything and with tears in my eyes I changed for bed and curled up as best I could and tried to go to sleep.