Okay, so I'm finally back. Sorry I didn't get to post these last few days, i was getting ready for my cousin's wedding this Saturday. Which means I probably won't be posting Saturday... So, Charlie's just entered the present part of the story... I love the way he was portrayed in the movie and books, but I can't help to think that a man who has seen all the hate of being a cop (even if it's a small town), wouldn't show his love for his personal life more. With that in mind, it's obvious in this chapter he's slightly OOC, but I love my Charlie, so here ya go.

SM owns her Charlie, I own mine.

See you at the bottom!

Chapter 10: Blessings Please?

PREVIOUSLY

A solid knock on the door made me jump and I told him to come in. To say he was a mess too was putting it lightly. His clothes were wrinkled as if he'd slept in them all night, his face was drawn, his eyes red, whether from lack of sleep or crying I don't know. He looked like he'd aged 10 years in the matter of a week… or well, I guess I should say months since I last remembered seeing him.

"God damn it, Edward."

Here it comes…

Before I knew what he was doing, he half ran to my bed and pulled me into a hug. I was startled. I mean, maybe he was trying to crush the life out of me, or maybe he was trying to reach across me to my IV, or…

"Thank God you're alright, son."

Wait… WHAT?

PRESENT CONTINUED

Okay, now I was confused. This man, the father of the woman I love, is glad I'm okay, after almost killing his daughter?

"Charlie?" I gasped. He pulled back, with a look on face that said he thought he was hurting me… and in a way I guess he was. He shouldn't be happy I'm okay. He should be downright trying to find a way to get me thrown in jail or something for hurting his baby girl.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you all right? Do you need me to go get your father?" He rambles. Like Bella, when she's nervous.

"Charlie, I… I mean… I'm so sorry Charlie, I swear I'll make this right. I failed you, and your trust must be completely blown with me, and I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen, even though I don't know half of what happened and I just…"

"Whoa, whoa, Edward, calm down, take a breath." Charlie gripped my shoulder, and he wasn't even trying to hurt me. It was the same way my father tried to comfort me. Why was he trying to comfort me?

I was rambling, I knew that much. I couldn't express just how much I blamed myself, or how sorry I was for the pain I caused him.

"Edward, son, you need to calm down. This wasn't your fault."

My head shook sharply as my breathing rose. "No, it is. I d-drove that night. We sh-should've stayed at m-my parents place. We sh-shouldn't have left. I'm s-so s-sor-ry Cha-rlie" I could feel the tears trying to come back through, my breathing escalating. I felt like such a pussy laying in this bed, with Bella's father standing over me, trying to console me, when he should have been wringing my neck.

"Enough Edward. I don't blame you, I never did. I know what you must be thinking right now, but I don't. There was nothing you could've done. You called your father when this happened, and you got Bella to the hospital because of that. You saved her."

"M-My mother said the s-same thing. I didn't save her Ch-Charlie. I almost… I almost." At that point I knew the tears were coming down in torrents.

"Awe hell kid, you really are blaming yourself for all of this aren't you." Charlie sat down in the chair beside me which forced me to look straight at him. "This ISN'T your fault Edward. YOU weren't drinking and driving. YOU didn't swerve into the other lane. YOU weren't the cause. YOU saved Bella!

I looked down at my hands and saw just how badly they were shaking. "I don't remember."

"The accident?" He asked puzzled, and I shook my head. "The last five months. The last thing I remember about you, you were telling me to protect them with my life or the dogs wouldn't find me."

He was shocked, to say the least. "No one told… I mean… I didn't… well damn kid no wonder you're scared to hell and back of me." I jerked my eyes back up to him, staring with my mouth hanging open, at the smirk on his face. He raised an eyebrow, as I watched his mustache twitch. "Seriously Edward, do you think we'd never spoken to each other since that day, in the last five months? I mean hell I gave you permission to m… well, we won't go there, but I will say I trust you completely with my girls… our girls."

I can honestly say I was floored. He trusts me. I mean, I know there's a lot of time between that first day we met and to this point, but to say he trusts me with the two most important people in his life, says a lot of the relationship we must have. God I wish I had my memories back.

"Thank you Charlie. You'll never know how much that means to me."

He snickered and I gave him a questioning look. "It's nothing. It's just, those were the exact same words you said to me, not to long ago."

A flood of memories came through at me as he said that.

I had just driven for the last three hours to Forks to speak to both Charlie and Billy. I needed both of their… not so much approvals, but their blessings if I was going to man up and finally propose to Bella like I wanted to. I finally pulled into the driveway that belonged to Charlie and stared at Bella's childhood home.

It wasn't anything special, as in the exterior. White walls, with green shutters, the grass needed mowed and there weren't any real "womanly" touches decorating the house, like plants or flowers. But it was so incredibly special to me. I could see a tire swing in a tree beside the house, where I knew Alyssa had swung from many times… and probably Bella had used when she lived here as a child. I could see the stairs leading to the front porch that, knowing my Bella, she'd probably fallen on one too many times in her life going in and out of the house. I could see the windows upstairs and wondered which room was Bella's, and what it would look like to see a young teenage version of her staring out into the night.

I shook myself out of my musings and got out of the car. Charlie's cruiser was sitting in the driveway, and if I didn't know the man as well as I did, I'd have been a little shaken up from nervousness. Okay, so I was still nervous, I mean hell, I was going to ask him for his blessing. I didn't need permission though. Bella's a grown woman and she knows what she wants, but I needed to know the man who is most important in Bella's life approved of my being able to make her happy; of making Alyssa happy.

I walked up the steps and stood in front of the door for a few moments collecting my bearings. The curtain on the window beside the door shifted slightly and I knew the jig was up. He knew I was out here, and from the way I'd been stalling, I'm sure he had an inclination as to why I was here. I took one last deep breath and knocked solidly on the door. I didn't want him thinking I was unsure of anything and a timid knock would be the starter of that train of thought.

Less than a minute later the door opened, Charlie stood in his uniform and I think it just made him more imposing. I guess I never really took into account that he could be off to work. I should've called ahead.

"Well, Edward, to what do I owe this sudden visit?" I could see his mustache twitch. I knew he knew what I was planning to ask. He knew that I knew he knew. Did that even make sense?

"Charlie, I was wondering if you had time to sit down for a few minutes. There's something I'd like to ask you, and I'd really rather not do it here, in the doorway of your home." Wow, did I just say that all without squeaking? Charlie seemed to realize my thoughts too and opened the door wider to let me pass. We walked to the kitchen, and he opened the fridge to get two bottles of water. "Sorry it's not beer, I have to go into work soon."

"No, it's fine. I don't want to be driving back to Seattle under the influence." He nodded his head and we sat down at the table. I opened my bottle and took a nice large swig before playing with the lid. After a few minutes, Charlie finally spoke up. "So, Edward, this is your show. What did you want to talk to me about?"

I took a deep breath and looked up at Charlie straight in the eye. I knew if I were in his position I'd want the man who was interested in my daughter to be staring at me assuredly, rather than at a lid. "Charlie, you know I love your daughter, more than my own life. And I love Alyssa like she's the daughter of my heart. They are both so very important to me, and I hope you know that I'd never do anything to hurt them, or let anything hurt them."

He nodded his head and took a swig from his water. Basically, telling me "continue."

"We both know why I'm really here, but I want you to know that I'm not asking permission." His eyebrow raised and before he could speak I continued. "Bella is an amazing woman and mother. Beautiful and loving and honest and completely her own woman. And the only person I need permission from is Bella and Alyssa. However, while I don't NEED your permission, I do want your blessing. You're Bella's one and only father, and she looks to you for guidance and loves you with her whole heart. You are the most important man in her world and I need to know that you place your trust in me to make them both happy. I want your blessing so that they can make me the happiest man in this world, or the next."

There. I said it. Now all I had to do was wait… and wait… Jesus, he is going to say it's okay right?

"Edward, when you first said about not needing permission, I almost wanted to clock you, however my daughter would not appreciating her possible husband-to-be with a concussion."

"I meant no disrespect sir, truly I di… wait, what?"

Was that a yes?

"Edward, you and I know Bella's even more hard headed than I am, and when she gets something in her head it sticks like molasses. She knows what she wants, and what she wants is you. Alyssa loves you even more than you probably know, and if I were to not give you the blessing you desire then I'd be strung up by my toes faster than I could blink. However, I'm not just giving my blessing because I'm just a tad scared of what my daughter would do to me…" He chuckled at whatever thought came into his head then. "…I'm giving it to you because I know you love my daughter and granddaughter, and there isn't a force in this world that you wouldn't face to keep them both safe."

I sighed deeply at the fatherly feelings I received from Charlie. I love my father very much, and no one could tell me otherwise, but to know that Charlie's trust in me is so deep, I was very touched.

"Thank you Charlie. You'll never know how much that means to me."

He laughed and stood to hook me into a fatherly hug. "Might as well start learning how to call me…"

"Dad." I spoke out loud.

Charlie looked at me confused as I hadn't said much in the last minute or two that it took for that memory to run through my head. "Do you need me to go get your father, Edward?" I was already shaking my head before he finished the sentence.

"You told me to start learning how to call you dad."

Charlie's eyes opened wider than I could imagine. I could tell he was feeling rather emotional, but he didn't want me to see it.

"You remember?"

I nodded, pressing my head into the back of the pillow as I stared at the ceiling. "You told me to call you dad. I remember the whole ride home I had kept running it through my head after I said 'Thanks Dad.' I mean, I have my father, who don't get me wrong, I love him very much. But the way you spoke to me that day, made me think you were so proud of me. Like I was your own son."

I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and I looked at Charlie who had them running down his face. He didn't care anymore whether I saw or not. It was just the two of us anyways. "I am proud of you son. I'm very proud of you." He reached over for my hand and squeezed it tightly before turning away to wipe the tears from his eyes. I quickly did the same, and when he turned around we both laughed. "I am so glad no one else saw that."

I laughed harder but it fucking hurt, so it ended as a groan. "Dad, seriously, don't make me laugh. That hurt."

Charlie's eyes sparkled and his mustache twitched with the smile he tried to repress before nodding and standing up. "I'm going to go get your brother. He's been pacing like a rabid animal for some time now, and I'm sure if I monopolize your time any more than I have he's going to come running in here and throwing my ass out the door."

I tried not to laugh, really I did, but the thought of Emmett throwing the Chief out, well it was comical.

"Tell Billy I said 'thank you' again.?"

He tilted his head and his forehead crinkled before his eyes widened in understanding. "You asked him too, didn't you?" I nodded and spoke softly, "I needed to know that the father, of the man who fathered Alyssa would approve of me, for what I wanted to do." I took a deep breath and looked up at the confused Charlie. "I want to adopt Alyssa, making her an official Cullen, but I don't want her to make her feel like she's losing her father, so I was going to ask if she'd want to hyphenate it, Black-Cullen or Cullen-Black. Even if she didn't want the last name of Cullen, she would still be my daughter."

I could see Charlie's shoulders shake with the emotions he was trying to suppress and when he looked at me I could see his eyes shining in the fluorescent light. "I think Jacob would be really happy, to know you are looking out for our little girl." I knew he said our, because she wasn't just Bella's and Jake's. She had a little piece of everyone wrapped around her tiny little finger, and an even bigger part of our hearts belonged solely to her.

I could feel myself choking on the emotions that wanted to spill out, but I sucked in a deep breath, and gave my thanks to Charlie. He nodded his head and left after that, giving me a few minutes to gather myself together for what I'm sure would be an interesting conversation with my brother.

I'm sure that this would not be the last time tears would come to my eyes tonight.

Anyone else agree with the waterworks? I did put this as an emotional roller coaster... And there will be some more waterworks in the future, because there's Emmett, and then when/if Edward finally gets to see Bella.

So I am up to 4 reviews on this little dandy of a write, one asked if it was HEA, and the other said Emmett's last part of the story tore them up.

I'll say that Emmett's part tore me up too, and the reason it did so much was because I actually had a dream of that scene the night before I wrote it (no lie). It was heart wrenching then, and definitely so now. This story actually started as a dream of mine, where I was floating above, watching Edward scream for Bella not to leave him... the prologue of the story basically. I just continued it from there, and then since my mind's been running on this story a lot recently, I had the Emmett and Carlisle dream, that I just HAD to put in. So when I said I had a certain POV coming through, that was what happened. So far these dreams seem to be panning out!

As for the other review, well... All I can say is, keep reading. I love HEA's but I'm flying by the seat of my pants here, so really, anything goes!

Thanks everyone for the alerts and the hits, it's been amazing watching that meter get higher!

I'll be posting the Emmett chapter within the next few days if I can manage it.

And don't forget to review for me people... they are like watching Edward ask your dad for his blessings to your marriage - sigh -

Okay, READ, REVIEW and REMEMBER to tell your friends!

Until then!