Porch Swing

By: HammondGirl

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She didn't want to be here. Somehow, the clean night air surrounding her was suffocating rather than cleansing. She was used to the blur and whir of the big city, but she couldn't stay there. She had to leave Chicago behind; had to get away from the city she'd fled to all those years ago. So she came back... She came home.

Six years ago, Bella Swan – the Homecoming Queen and reigning sweetheart of Forks, Washington – seemed to have her life laid out before her on a smooth road paved in gold. Everyone around Forks assumed that Bella would marry their star quarterback and Homecoming King, Jake Black, and at the time, Bella had seriously considered it. But deep down, she knew that small-town USA wasn't the place for her. So she'd set out east, intent on getting as far as possible away from everything that had to do with Forks – including Jake – and moved two thousand miles away, enrolling at Chicago University.

Shocking the town of Forks, Jake followed her out to Chicago a year later, giving up his football scholarship and full ride to the University of Florida. His grand gesture took Bella by surprise, and she thought that perhaps he'd changed; that perhaps her high school sweetheart really was everything she'd been looking for when she'd left Forks. And at first, she'd been right. Jacob Black was no longer the small town boy who she'd known as Jake; Jacob swept her off of her feet.

During the five years they dated, Bella found within Jacob everything she'd ever wanted. He ditched his huge pickup truck for a sleek hotrod, changed his major to Web Game Programming, and just before graduation, they bought a loft apartment together. When they'd both landed jobs with prestigious companies in Chicago a few months later, Bella was surprised to find herself thinking of marriage. This was it for her. Jacob was it for her.

Three weeks ago, when she'd discovered several thousand dollars missing from their joint checking account and the Drake Hotel called to confirm a reservation in the name of Jacob Black for the weekend, Bella had been thrilled, thinking he was finally going to pop the question. He'd alluded to their big weekend plans during the work week, saying he had something he needed to discuss with her. It left her feeling excited and hopeful, and she couldn't help but laugh. In the end, Bella Swan had ended up that girl – the one who married her high school sweetheart.

On Friday, as she packed a small overnight suitcase for her big surprise weekend, Bella heard the mail hit the floor as it fell from the small slot in the front door. When she opened up this month's Visa bill, her heart stopped beating and a lump formed in her throat. Reading through the recent purchases, she noticed that there were charges for local hotels during days when Jacob was supposed to be out of town on business. There were charges to expensive local restaurants when Jacob was supposed to be out on his company's dime. There were charges for high-end lingerie stores such as Agent Provocateurand Lascivious when Bella hadn't received a gift from Jacob in months.

So she did what any red-blooded American woman would do – she confronted him with the bill and savings account statement. When Jacob owned up to cheating on her for over a year with a woman from work, Bella choked back a sob. But when he confessed that he'd used his and Bella's hard-earned money as a down payment for a house that he intended to purchase for the bitch, she'd slapped Jacob across the face, hard, and threw him out.

Bella stayed home from work for two days to lick her wounds, but everything about their loft felt tainted to her, so she took an extended leave from work and bought a one-way ticket home to Forks, the only place she'd be free from him… from Jacob. Charlie, her father, had been surprised to see his daughter standing at his doorstep with two full suitcases, but he simply pushed open the screen door and let her in. For the first week, Bella stayed mostly to herself, and in the evenings, she isolated herself out on the back porch swing. Though she tried to hide her heartache from her father, Charlie heard her cry herself to sleep every night.

Saturday evening, he informed Bella that he was expecting company the next week, and she told him that she would leave to give him and his guest space. Bella figured she could get a hotel room; she simply wasn't ready to face her life back in Chicago. Though she thought she'd be ready to go back by now, she realized that there was nothing left for her there, and the more time she spent in Forks, she realized that she was home. Charlie assured her that it wasn't going to be a problem for her to stay, and it broke his heart that she thought she was no longer welcome in her childhood home.

On Monday afternoon, Carlisle Cullen – the little brother of James Cullen, Charlie's boyhood friend – arrived. Carlisle was moving back to the area in a few weeks and needed to scope out the area, and Bella greeted him quickly when he walked through Charlie's door before making herself scarce, retreating back to her room. That evening, Bella made a simple dinner and the trio sat at the kitchen table. Bella ate in her usual quiet state, which had suited Charlie just fine; he wasn't one for idle conversation.

Halfway through the meal, Bella found that she couldn't ignore their company as she did her father. "So Bella," Carlisle said, breaking the silence that had settled among them. "What brings you back to Forks? Charlie tells me that he thought he'd never see the day his little girl would step foot back in this lazy town."

Bella slowly lifted her head to meet his gaze and was taken aback for a moment when she discovered how handsome her father's friend was, and how young he looked. He was closer to her age than to Charlie's. She opened her mouth, but realized that she'd have to explain her situation, and bringing up everything that had transpired recently was not something she was comfortable with. Charlie saved her from having to explain her humiliation when he said, "Well, I was surprised to see her, but I can't complain. It's nice that she came out to visit her old man." Bella offered her father a meek smile, and Carlisle took the hint and switched gears, involving Charlie in a heated debate about baseball.

After dinner, Charlie suggested that they hit the local bar, and though Carlisle was nice enough to invite Bella, she politely declined. Pouring a glass of red wine, she brought the bottle, a book, and small blanket out to the comforting porch swing. Bella abandoned her book as the night sky darkened around her and sipped her wine as she took in the sounds, smells, and wonders of nature around her. Musing on how she could never relax like this in Chicago, Bella realized that she'd actually missed this; missed home.

She was pushing the swing back and forth slowly with her feet and looking up at the night sky as a satellite zoomed across the horizon when a low voice startled her. "Bet you don't get to see a lot of those in the city," Carlisle said, pointing up at the stars. She looked over to find him leaning against the back door with one hand shoved inside his jeans' pocket and the other wrapped around a bottle of beer.

Bella took in his relaxed posture and couldn't help but relax as well. She shook her head and offered a simple, "No," to his question before she resumed pushing herself back and forth on the swing.

"May I?" he suddenly asked as he pushed off from the doorframe, nodding toward the empty spot next to her on the porch swing.

"Yes," she answered in a meek voice. Carlisle took the empty space next to her, and Bella watched as he brought his beer bottle up to his lips to take a long pull from it. She sipped her wine slowly, and was surprised a moment later to find her glass drained. Breaking the slow swinging motion they'd set, Bella leaned over and placed the empty glass down at her side where it wouldn't be knocked over. When she tucked one leg up under the other, she pushed off with her dangling foot to begin rocking again. Then she turned her body to face Carlisle, and found that he'd turned to face her as well.

Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the shadows and contours the moonlight illuminated on Carlisle's face, and her lips parted. His eyes fell from hers to watch as Bella drew in a shaky breath and he leaned forward. Bella found herself being drawn to him, and just as their lips met, the porch light came on.

A/N: Nina! I hope you have a fuckawesome birthday & I promise not to bug the shit out of you in line (or lick your face) the next time we meet! ;)

Kisses from PFach,

HammondGirl