Hi All! My RL drama is hopefully coming to a close **fingers crossed** but it's the reason why I'm delayed in updating today. My new story, Dancing On My Own, now has a banner and you can see it over on Facebook. It will begin posting when I've finished posting this story. Who's excited?

Location: Forks, Washington

Prompt: Greenhouse

Once they left the station, Charlie convinced Bella into going with him to the diner for a quick bite to eat. Though they were left alone, which was a rarity since everyone knew Charlie in town, Bella could feel the patrons eyes following them and they looked saddened for her. This was one of the reasons why Bella hated that she had to return to Forks so quickly after she left.

"So, did the townsfolk stop talking to you or something?" Bella asked as she took a small bite of her peach cobbler, her appetite next to nil, though she couldn't tell Charlie that. He had enough to worry about without adding her eating habits to the fray.

"Nah, most of them are still the same. I just think people don't know how to talk to me now, you know?" Bella nodded softly as Charlie stretched his hand across the table and grasped Bella's firmly within his. "Listen, so you are prepared, I want you to know it's not going to be all sunshine and roses over the next few days."

"I didn't expect it to be," Bella answered honestly.

"Good. I just don't want there to be any misconceptions about everything. The doctors will be blunt, like they always are, and there will be times where you will want to run, but I need you to stay."

"I will, Daddy." Bella could see that since she had left her father had lost a few pounds and had clearly lost some sleep as well. She hated to see him in such disarray, so she as being as honest as she could when she said she would stay. Though her tendency was to run when things got tough, Bella would do anything for her father, and if this meant staying… she would stay as long as she could.

"Thanks, Bells."

A little over an hour later, Bella walked through the front door of her father's house and immediately felt like she was somewhere else. Though his small two-bedroom house was always considered cozy, it was now filled with all sorts of knick-knacks, photos and blankets spread out on the couch, which Bella hadn't seen in years. It was clear that Renee's stamp was all over the house once again.

Bella tentatively made her way towards the mantel where an old picture of her in her ballet costume rested between two trophies Charlie had won at the local Forks Chili Cook-Off. "Your mom put it there."

"I figured as much," Bella said with a sigh as she turned to head into the kitchen and was surprised by the greenhouse she found where the old back porch used to sit. "How long was I gone? I mean… this is a major undertaking, Dad."

"It wasn't too bad. Billy came out one weekend with a few guys from the reservation and we got it done." Bella flinched at the mere mention of the reservation since she still felt horrible about her break up with Billy's son, Jacob. "Since I know you won't ask, Jacob is doing fine these days. He seems to be getting over you, finally."

"It's about time. Let me guess…Leah?"

"How did you know?"

"I wasn't blind, Dad. She wanted him the whole time we dated, and to be honest, she's much better suited to him than I ever was." Charlie seemed indifferent to the entire conversation and Bella felt bad that the friendship between Charlie and Billy had become strained following her less than amicable breakup with Jacob, but she felt somewhat better to know they were working it out. "Anyways, why is there a greenhouse where the porch used to be?"

"Renee suddenly got a gardening bug."

"Is that like how she got a pottery bug or the macramé flu? Or what about the 'I'm incredibly selfish so I'm going to walk out on my husband and teenage daughter when things aren't going my way'-isitis?"

"Bella," Charlie chided as Bella sat down on a stool in front of her father. "Renee has always been…"

"Selfish? Self-Centered? Overbearing?"

"I was going to say different."

"Well that's putting it mildly," Bella replied sarcastically as Charlie rolled his eyes at his daughters' dramatics.

"Bells, I'm not going to pretend like you and your mother had the best relationship ever, but there comes a time where you have to be the bigger person in all of this because your mother… she simply can't."

"The whole fucked up part of this is that I shouldn't have to be the bigger person, Dad. She's the adult… she's my mother. She shouldn't have left in the first place. If she had been mature enough to deal with the fact that my inability to dance didn't mean the end of her life, then none of this would have happened," Bella snapped at her father as he nodded his head at her solemnly.

Charlie understood the unenviable position that Bella was in better than anyone else. After all, when Renee showed up a few months ago at his door begging for his forgiveness for having left him and their daughter in their time of need, he was tempted to simply slam the door in her face. However, Charlie took one long look at his ex-wife and could immediately sense something was wrong.

Renee was lacking the life that used to live in her eyes. She looked tired, downtrodden and had lost enough weight that it was noticeable to Charlie, who hadn't seen her in over two years. Renee's hair looked shorter, but also different in texture and color, which was something he couldn't explain away. As he let her into his home, Charlie had immediately offered her a place to sit as he could see Renee was beginning to falter in her steps and his concern for her skyrocketed. Though he didn't care much for his ex-wife after the callous way she left their family, he didn't wish any ill will towards the mother of his daughter. It wouldn't take Renee more than five minutes after she walked into the house to tell Charlie exactly why she was there.

Renee had stage II pancreatic cancer and was given only months to live. Unfortunately for Bella, those months were now just days.