Chapter 23 - Jared

I couldn't believe Kim. She had some nerve showing up here. What did she think was going to happen? That she'd get me alone and convince me to leave Bella? Obviously that wasn't going to happen. Especially with the imprint. Nothing could separate me from Bella.

It was three days later, that Bella and I were woken up to an incessant knocking at the front door. I headed to the front door while Bella got dressed. When I opened the front door, I was surprised to see my parents. "Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?" I asked, letting them in the house.

The three of us walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "We got a call from a friend of yours. She sounded very worried about you." Mom said. She?

"Who called you? Cause I assure you that I'm perfectly fine." I said. Please don't say Kim.

"I think she said her name was Emily." Mom said. That didn't sound right. Emily knew that I was fine and if she thought that I wasn't, she would have had Paul or Sam talk to me.

"You sure it was Emily, Mom?" I asked.

"I believe so. She said she was concerned because you'd moved your girlfriend in and you were planning a future with her." Mom said. This had Kim written all over it.

"Yes, I have. And I am." I said.

Mom sat there and nodded. "How did you meet her?" Dad asked me.

"She's friends with Jacob Black. He started hanging out with us a few months ago. Chief Black is her godfather and she's Old Quil's great niece." I said.

"She sounds lovely. I don't get why that would have your friend worried?" Mom said.

"Probably because Bella is Chief Swan's daughter." I said.

"The police chief in Forks?" Dad asked and I nodded. "We'd like to meet her." He said. He was calm. They seemed calmer since when I'd first opened the door.

I walked out of the living room and upstairs to the bedroom where Bella was just walking out of the bathroom. "What's wrong?" She asked me.

"My parents are here." I said.

"And that's bad?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm confused by the whole thing. Mom said that Emily called her concerned about me but if it was Emily she would have gotten Paul or Sam to talk to me. This has Kim written all over it." I said.

"Because of her visit the other day?" She asked me.

I nodded. "They want to meet you." I said.

She smiled at me. She closed the remaining distance between us, leaning up and quickly kissing me. "It'll be fine. Let's go." She said, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the bedroom. When we walked into the living room, Mom and Dad stood up. "Mr. and Mrs. Cameron, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Bella Swan, Jared's girlfriend." Bella said with a huge grin on her face.

"Bella, it's so nice to meet you." Mom said.

"Jared didn't tell me that you guys were coming to visit. If he had I could have fixed us all breakfast." Bella said. She was good. I sheepishly smiled at my girl.

"Oh dear, it's okay. Jared didn't know. It was a surprise visit." Dad told her.

"Well, it's nice to have you guys. I'm sure that this must have come as a surprise. You come to visit Jared and find out that not only does he have a girlfriend but that I'm living with him as well." Bella said as she walked over to sit in the recliner across from my parents. I chose to sit on the armrest next to her.

"A little bit. When we received a frantic call from a friend of Jared's, we thought that it might be best to come down and check things out." Mom said. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that.

"Of course. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. I'm sure that there's things you'd like to know about the girl that has captured your son's attention." Bella said.

Mom and Dad both nodded. "Jared said that your father is the Police Chief in Forks?" Dad asked.

"He is. He's been Chief for as long as I can remember. I'm very proud of him. He does an amazing job keeping Forks safe and he has a great team." Bella said.

For the next hour, Bella sat there pleasantly answering every question that my parents threw at her. "I think that I'm gonna go call Dad and she if he'd like to come down and join the four of us for lunch." Bella said, standing up.

"I think that sounds like a great idea. Do you wanna grill?" I asked her.

She smiled at me. "That sounds great. I'll see what we have in the fridge, if there's nothing I'll just run down to Joy's and grab some burgers." Bella said. She walked around me and headed towards the kitchen.

"She seems wonderful Jared." Dad said.

"Thanks. I love her. She's great. She takes care of things around her. She works for the tribal council. Takes care of Chief Black and Old Quil as well. She's superwoman." I said. And she was.

"So what's really going on?" Dad asked me.

I sat down in the recliner. "Do you remember Kim Conweller?" I asked. They both nodded. "Apparently, Kim's infatuated with me. When she found out that Bella and I were dating, she cornered Bella at Joy's store. Tried to intimidate her. Said that you'd never approve of Bella. Then three days ago, she showed up here after Bella had left for work. Tried to convince me to leave Bella…saying once again that you guys wouldn't approve of Bella because she's from Forks. I'm pretty sure that Kim's the one that called you guys saying that she was Emily. I know that Emily wouldn't call unless it was an emergency." I told them.

"Makes sense. The Conweller's believe in status. With your security work that you do for the council, they believe they can't get any higher than that." Dad said.

I nodded. "Yeah. Then you add in the fact that Bella is the goddaughter of the Chief and the great-niece of the Shaman, that makes her hate Bella even more." I said.

"Well, if it makes a difference, we love her. She's amazing and she has a great personality. I can't wait to get to know her better." Mom said. That made me smile. I knew that they'd love her, despite what Kim had said.

"Thanks Mom. That means a lot." I said.

Bella came back in a few minutes later with a tray of Iced Tea. She sat the tray on the coffee table before handing everyone a glass. "Dad said that he'd be happy to join us. He said he can't wait to meet your parents." Bella told me. I smiled. "He also said that he'd stop and grab something for us to grill."

"Sounds great. Now, you sit and relax. You've been doing too much lately." I told her.

"I'll try. You know I like to stay busy." She said.

We spent the time waiting on Charlie, sitting an talking. Mom and Bella talked about literature since Mom was an English professor. Mom seemed happy that she had someone that she could talk to about it. Dad sat back and enjoyed watching Mom. It made him happy to see her happy. I secretly think that Mom had always wanted a daughter. And now she had that with Bella.