A/N: First of all, let me apologize for such the long wait! I just started a second job in early January and both of my bosses thought it'd be a good idea to overwork me. So, I've barely had time to sleep. But, I've gotten a few days off and I'm gonna try to update as much as possible. I've loved reading your reviews, they greatly encourage me. As I'm posting this chapter, we're at 129 reviews! Thank you so much for taking the time to write a review.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, nor do I claim to.

Reviews for Chapter 17:

MariMart: I know, I'm going through the same thing right now. I think Leah did deserve a happy ending. I promise that she will get one in this series, but I'm a little unsure on how it's gonna come about. But, she does get one.

Brook-Lucas-Fan-23: Thank you so much!

AlexBlueRose22: Thank you so much! Leah was Sam's first love so it is understandable that he still has feelings for her. And we'll have to just wait and see….

SarahAnneXXX: Part of Charlie still sees her as his little girl. Now, she's all grown up, in love with her first boyfriend. And Katie is a protective big sister…. We'll leave it there :)

Blacklab369: Thank you so much!

Lelleg: They did hurt her little sister…

LovelyBlue99: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the update!

Sarahmichellegellerfan1: I'm glad!

Avenger-Elle: I know that I'm like that with some stories I read, since I can get the site on my iPhone. I'm sorry for it took two months for me to be able sit back down at a computer.

ForeverTeamEdward13: Thank you so much!

Please: Thank you!

Guest(s): Thank you both so much! I hope you enjoy the update!

Belladu57: Thank you!

If you leave a review on chapter 18, please be sure to check chapter 19 for my responses.

Slowing opening the door, I took a quick peek inside the bathroom. Sam was caught up in his own reflection. But, I knew it wasn't for vanity reasons. Sam had never been a vain person. I knew the reason that he was staring into the mirror was due how much older he looked than in previous years. The last two years had been hard on Sam, aging him faster than he was already was.

"Hey." His calm voice pulled me out of my thoughts. He opened his arms, silently inviting me in. Without any response, I wrapped my arms around his waist and looked in the mirror.

Sam's broad stature nearly took up the mirror (not that it was an extremely big mirror) and almost the bathroom. His tan skin stood out against the white walls. He was only twenty years old, but his face had the look of a least a twenty-five year old.

Then, there was me. I had just turned nineteen and still looked as I did when I was a senior in high school. I somehow seemed to keep a light tan throughout the year (genetics, my dad would say) but I looked pale when I was beside Sam. As well as looking pale, I was extremely short. I was about 5'5 but Sam's 6'6 height made me look like a child.

"What are you thinking about Kate?" He whispered in my ear, pulling me closer into his side. This was when I felt most complete. I knew the imprint played a huge part in this, but I was never happier than when I was with Sam.

"Us." I smiled as I saw the couple in the mirror. I absolutely loved how me and Sam looked together. It was like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together.

Before I knew it, Sam had turned me around and sat me on the counter, making us more at eye level. While he never complained about the difference, I knew that scrunching down to kiss me wasn't exactly comfortable.

Right as his lips were about to touch mine, the phone rang, interrupting the moment. I groaned and pulled away and headed into the living room. I had every intention on ignoring the phone call until I saw the caller ID.

Charlie Swan

Dad was never the one who just called for a chat. Whenever he called, it was usually for a reason. The part that worried me the most was how late it was.

"Hello?" I picked up the phone.

"Katie, you and Sam need to get up here now." Dad said frantically.

"What's going on, Dad?" I looked at Sam, knowing that he heard his words.

"Bella's missing."

Ten minutes later, we were pulling into the driveway of my old house. The first thing I noticed was the amount of cars around the house. When dad told me that Bella was missing, I knew that it wasn't good. But seeing this amount of cars, it made my mind go crazy.

"What if she…" I trailed off, looking at Sam. The treaty between the Cullens and the wolves had been in place for many years and till now, hadn't been breached. But, if Bella had become one of them, the treaty would be void.

"Let's not think like that." Sam responded sternly after a few seconds of silence. Without any response, we both got out of the cab of his truck and headed up to the front door.

"Katie." Dad saw me and made a beeline to me. "Thank you for coming." He looked at Sam and the two exchanged a nod.

"She left this note and I had assumed that since she was with him," he spat the word 'him' out with venom. "But she never showed back up."

"We'll find her dad." I gave him an awkward side hug.

Within the next few minutes, a few more people showed up, including Paul and Jared, and they made a plan for finding Bella. I was assigned to stay at the house just in case Bella showed up. A part of me had a bad feeling that she wouldn't be coming back.

So, I sat myself on the porch steps and ignored the light drizzle coming down. I kept my eyes on the road, waiting for Bella to show up.

About twenty minutes later, I heard shouting coming from the direction of the forest. I immediately jumped up and ran towards the mass of people coming out.

Dad was coming from one direction with his search party while my eyes found Sam, who appeared to be carrying someone. Bella. I took off running toward them.

"Bella, honey, are you alright?" Dad's voice was laced with worry.

"Charlie?" Bella weakly replied.

"I'm right here, baby." Dad then held his arms out for Bella. Sam looked apprehensive but shifted Bella into his arms.

"Maybe I should hold onto her…" Sam suggested once he saw him stagger underneath her weight.

"I got her." He replied, breathlessly. He slowly started walking, holding onto Bella for dear life. We all followed behind him with the same pace.

"We're almost home, honey." I heard him reassure Bella.

As we got to the house, Sam passed him and jogged up the steps to hold open the door. As Dad slowly went through the door, Sam held one arm out, as if to catch her if his arms would fail.

When we got inside, Dad put Bella down on the couch and sent me upstairs for some blankets out of the cupboard. Without wasting a second, I ran up the steps and grabbed the first blanket I could, which thankfully was a rather thick one, and jogged back down the steps.

The doctor was beside Bella, giving her a check-up. Silently, I handed Dad the blanket and watched as he gently wrapped her up in it.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with her," Dr. Gerandy determined. "Just exhaustion. Let her sleep it off, and I'll come check on her tomorrow," he paused and looked at watch. "Well, later today actually."

The two men moved away from Bella, obviously trying to keep the conversation from her. I glanced at Bella, who had her eyes shut, but I knew that she wasn't sleeping. She was always a restless sleeper and now, she was lying perfectly still.

"Is it true?" Dad whispered. "Did they leave?" I sat on the floor beside Bella and took a hold of her hand, relieved that she was okay. Part of me wanted to join the conversation with them, but I knew I had nothing to say. Besides, I could hear fine over here as well I could over there.

"Dr. Cullen asked us not to say anything," Dr. Gerandy answered. "The offer was very sudden; they had to choose immediately. Carlisle didn't want to make a big production out of leaving."

"A little warning might have been nice," Dad grumbled.

Dr. Gerandy sounded uncomfortable when he replied. "Yes, well, in this situation, some warning might have been called for."

One by one, the volunteers began to leave and dad whispered his thanks to each and every one of them. He did this till it was just me, him, Bella, and Sam left.

"So, they're gone?" Sam asked Dad. I knew he overheard the conversation, but he was like he wanted confirmation.

"Yeah, apparently, Dr. Cullen took this big job offer in Los Angeles." Dad replied. The phone then rang and he rushed off to answer it before he "woke" Bella up.

"You ready to go?" Sam put his arm around me and pulled me close into his side. I know he was likely going to be heading down to the cliffs to celebrate the Cullens being gone with the rest of the pack, but I felt as if I had a duty somewhere else.

"I think I'm gonna stay here for the night. Help dad with Bella…" I trailed off.

"That's fine." Sam brushed his lips against my forehead. "Do you need me to bring some clothes up?"

"I'll just borrow some from Bella." His cell phone rang and I knew that was his cue to go. He kissed me quickly and was out the door.

"Where did Sam go?" Dad came back out from the kitchen.

"He has to work in the morning and I offered to stay here." I knew that while he would have never asked for the help, he was grateful for it.

Within the next few minutes, we had situated ourselves in the living room. Dad was attempting to make himself comfortable on the recliner while I scrunched myself up on the loveseat. I had a feeling that we were in for a long night.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. Dad groaned, seeing as he finally found a comfortable position, and got up to answer it. I was almost asleep on the couch, so I stayed in the same position, not wanting to get up and go through the, "She's okay, she just got lost." phone call that he had been through multiple times in the past hour.

"Yeah?" Dad answered the phone with a yawn. Whatever they had to say must have woke him up, because he sounded more alert when he responded. "Where?"

"You're sure it's outside the reservation?"

"But what could be burning out there?" He sounded both worried and mystified. "Look, I'll call down there and check it out."

"Hey, Billy, it's Charlie, sorry I'm calling so early... no, she's fine. She's sleeping... Thanks, but that's not why I called. I just got a call from Mrs. Stanley, and she says that from her second-story window she can see fires out on the sea cliffs, but I didn't really... Oh!"

Suddenly there was an edge in his voice, irritation... or anger. "And why are they doing that? Uh huh. Really?" He replied sarcastically.

"Well, don't apologize to me. Yeah, yeah. Just make sure the flames don't spread... I know, I know, I'm surprised they got them lit at all in this weather." After a few more seconds of small talk, Dad hung up the phone and nearly stomped back into the living room.

"What's wrong?" Bella asked. I remained quiet, because I had a funny feeling that I knew exactly what was going on.

Dad rushed to her side. "I'm sorry I woke you, honey."

"Is something burning?"

"It's nothing," he assured her. "Just some bonfires out on the cliffs." I had to give it to them. In this weather, it must have been hard to keep a bonfire lit in this kind of weather.

"Bonfires?"

Charlie frowned. "Some of the kids from the reservation being rowdy," he explained.

"Why?" Bella wondered dully.

I could tell he didn't want to answer and I wasn't even looking at him. "They're celebrating the news." His tone was bitter.

"Because the Cullens left," She whispered. "They don't like the Cullens in La Push. I had forgotten about that."

"It's ridiculous." After a few minutes of silence, Dad said, "Bella?"

"He left you alone in the woods?" Charlie guessed.

How did you know where to find me?" She deflected.

"Your note," He answered, surprised. "When you didn't come back, I called the Cullens, and no one answered. Then I called the hospital, and Dr. Gerandy told me that Carlisle was gone."

"Where did they go?" Bella asked.

"Carlisle took a job with a big hospital in Los Angeles. I guess they threw a lot of money at him…"

"I want to know if Edward left you alone out there in the middle of the woods," Dad insisted. I had to bite my lip to keep words from coming out. Vampire or not, he had no right to just leave her in the words, leaving dad to worry sick about her.

"It was my fault. He left me right here on the trail, in sight of the house... but I tried to follow him." She continued, "I can't talk about this anymore, Dad. I want to go to my room."

Before he could answer, I heard Bella scramble up from the couch and up the stairs.

"Katie, I know you're not sleeping." When I opened my eyes, dad had just sat down the couch and was running a hand through his hair. "When I said something about him leaving her in the words, I could practically see the steam coming out of your ears.

"He had no right to just leave her in the woods, on the trail or not." I sat up. "He should have known that she would have tried to follow him."

"Well, he's gone now and we don't have to worry about him anymore." Or so we thought.