Chapter 2

Acceptance

Charlie's willingness of accepting this new reality had caught us all by surprise. I at least expected a number of questions. Edward turned to me, and said I needed to talk to Charlie alone. He stated that Charlie did have many questions going through his mind and that he would feel more comfortable talking to me alone.

Edward excused himself so that he could talk to Carlisle, and he asked Jacob and Renesmee to follow him.

In spite of his willingness to become one of us, Charlie looked disoriented; it was clear that he had many unanswered questions.

"Dad, I know you have questions." I said in a concerned voice. "Go ahead and ask them."

"Bells, I just don't understand, how did this happen to you? Did he? ... Did Edward force you into this?" He asked in an upset voice.

"No dad, Edward was actually against it" I said rolling my eyes.

"Then how? Why?"

My tone changed to a low appreciative voice as I answered his question. "Edward actually saved me. When I had Renesmee; and yes, she is our daughter as you suspected. Well, I was dying after she was born and that is when Edward saved me."

Charlie's look was close to impossible to explain, I assumed that horror would have been his reaction, but instead, I could see that he was grateful. He was silent as if he was in deep thought, when I broke his concentration.

"Dad?!"

He turned to me and I figured it would be easier if I just started talking about our way of life, instead of having him ask the painful questions.

"Dad, I was in your place once, in a way, so I will just tell you what I recall were my questions at the time. The Cullen's are actually not the typical vampires you read about or watch in movies. They don't kills humans, they feed on animals."

"So, how is Jacob still alive?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. That seemed to break the ice. I couldn't help it but to laugh. Wow! How could Charlie make a joke out of this?

"Dad! ... Jacob and the rest of the reservation actually developed a good relationship with the Cullen's… let's say that wolves are an exception to our diet."

"Hmm! So I assume the whole dying if going in the daylight thing is a myth?"

"Yes, dad."

I wish Edward was in the room right now, I sure hoped he was listening to Charlie's thoughts so he could tell me what they were.

"So, how does one become…" He asked in a curious but calm voice.

"Well dad, we are going to let Carlisle explain that to you, he has more experience with that whole process."

"Sounds fair enough… I guess. But before you get Carlisle, why exactly me knowing too much, puts me in danger?"

"Long story short, dad, and you love rules so you should understand this; we have our own set of rules to follow. Rules that ensure we are not exposed, not that you would tell anyone, but there is this coven, the Volturi; they are like "the vampire police", they enforce those rules."

"How did they find out?" he still asked questions in a calm voice. He did not seem to be scared at all, only curious.

"Some of us have powers, like reading minds or seeing the future, like Alice, she is the one who warned us about them coming. One of the Volturi's must have used one of those powers to find out."

That seemed to amuse him, like these unexpected and unexplained things kept coming up.

"…and do you have one of those special abilities, Bells?"

"I think we should get back to that another time dad. It is late, and we only have 3 days until they are supposed to be here." He nodded.

As I turned to get Carlisle, I saw that he was already there. Carlisle came in and sat across from Charlie. Edward stood by me. Carlisle seemed calmed as usual, he turned to Charlie and asked if he had any more questions before he explained what was about to happen.

Charlie, once again, with a sarcastic tone, turned to Carlisle and asked:

"Well, who is going to be the one who will bite me?" Even Carlisle who took this situation more serious than anyone else, could help but to laugh.

"What is it with the Swam family and not being scared or taking things seriously?" Edward asked confused with Charlie's reaction.

Carlisle then started to explain to Charlie that my transformation had been a smooth one, so they would try to get it as close as possible to it, of course, without the whole giving birth part of it!

He explained his beliefs were that my awareness and acceptance of what would happen, helped me during my newborn state; but if that was to be any different with Charlie, we would all be around to prevent any "damage", keeping him from going out in town to feed on the residents that he now protects. He also explained that they would get the venon injected straight to his heart, making the transformation process faster, due to the venon spreading faster that way.

Charlie listened to it all very carefully, nodding at everything he heard, as if nothing else surprised him.

Carlisle turned to me and explained that before anything was done, he would have to clear it with Jacob, ensuring that their treaty would not be broken. Jacob was already aware that something was happening, but he was not so sure of what exactly it entailed.

We noticed Charlie had rolled his eyes when Jacob's name was mentioned, he instantly responded to our curiosity.

"So, the wolf makes the big decisions around here?"

"Well dad, I have to say, you sound like Rosalie when referring to Jacob. It is kind of funny."

I started to wonder how Charlie would react when he found out that Jacob had imprinted on Renesmee, but this was not the time for that. Edward looked like he was trying not to laugh and I could only imagine that he was wondering the same thing.

My thoughts on that were brutally interrupted by the thought of Charlie enduring pain during the transformation. I had never told Carlisle that the morphine I was given before my transformation never worked, I had hoped I would never have to tell him that. Would that keep Carlisle from turning Charlie? Either way I had to say something, maybe this way Carlisle would think of an alternative for the pain. The worse part of this was the thought of Edward knowing that I had felt everything during my transformation. I couldn't even image what his reaction would have been…It was time for the truth.