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The Return
Charlie hit the mute button- an unusual action.
"Look, Bells, there's something I need to say." He frowned, looking very uncomfortable.
Bella sat still, waiting. He met her gaze for a second before shifting his eyes to the floor. He didn't say anything more.
"What is it, Dad?" Bella encouraged him.
Charlie sighed. "I'm not good at this kind of thing. I don't know how to start…"
Bella waited again patiently. Her father had been getting better at trying to communicate his emotions, but he still struggled on occasion. This was one of those times.
"Okay, Bella, here's the thing." He got up from the couch and started pacing back and forth across the room, looking at his feet all the time. "You and Jake are getting pretty serious, and there are some things you need to be careful about. I know you're an adult now, but you're still young, kiddo, and there are a lot of important things you need to know when you…well, when you're physically with – "
Bella blanched. This talk sounded all too reminiscent of the last one they'd had. The one where she had mistakenly thought that Charlie was going to lecture her about sex. She had been wrong then, she hoped she was wrong now. But something about the determined glint in his eyes told her that this time she was right.
"Oh, please, please no!" She begged, jumping to her feet. "Please tell me you're not trying to have the sex talk with me, Dad."
Charlie glared at her. "I am your father. I have responsibilities. Remember, I am just as embarrassed as you are. But I've seen the way you are with Jake, how…. how…um close….and touchy feely you've gotten. You practically live at his place these days when you're not at school."
"So do you!" Bella butted in, red faced.
Charlie glared at her again. "That's beside the point."
"Is it?" Bella argued. "Look, Dad, its great you want to be a responsible parent and everything, but Mom beat you to the punch about ten years ago. You're off the hook."
"Ten years ago, you didn't have a boyfriend. And as much as I approve of Jake and I know how mature he is, underneath all that muscle mass, he's still a teenage boy. And you're still my daughter. I am just looking out for you both." He muttered awkwardly.
Bella could tell he was battling with his desire to drop the subject. They were both standing up, looking at the floor, and facing away from each other.
"I don't think the essentials have changed that much." Bella mumbled; her cheeks felt like they were on fire. This was hell.
What on earth had prompted this lecture suddenly? She and Jacob had been careful not to engage in too much PDA in front of either parent, but maybe that was the problem, perhaps they were being too overcautious with their demonstrative displays of affection. Perhaps it had made their dads suspicious about what they were hiding. She could just imagine the conversation that had gone on between the two men. God, it didn't bear thinking about!
"Just tell me you two are being responsible." Charlie pleaded, clearly wishing that a hole would open in the floor so he could fall in.
"Don't worry about it, Dad. It's not like that."
"Not that I don't trust you, Bella, but I know you don't want to tell me anything about this, and you know I don't really want to hear it. I will try to be open minded, though. I know things have changed."
Bella rolled her eyes. "Have they, Dad? Have they changed really? I mean you and Mom had me when you weren't much older than I – "
"Times were different back then." Charlie argued. "And you've just proved my point about why I should be worried. I'm speaking from experience, Bella."
"Jeez, Dad, what more can I say. You have nothing to worry about, I can assure you. Jake and I are very responsible, and when it does happen, we'll take the necessary precautions, I promise you." Bella snapped, revealing more information than she intended in her impatience for the whole mortifying conversation to be over.
Charlie picked up on it right away of course. His posture immediately relaxed, his lighter tone showing his relief. "So, you and he haven't…?" He didn't finish the question, just left it hanging.
"Ugh, Dad!" Bella groaned. "I really wish you were not forcing me to say this out loud. But I don't think you'll be satisfied until I do. I am still a…. a…virgin, okay. Jake and I have been taking it slow. Happy now?"
They both cringed, but then Charlie's face smoothed out. He definitely believed her.
"Can I leave now? Please?"
"In a minute." He said succinctly.
"Aw, Dad, please? Haven't you embarrassed us both enough for one day?"
"The embarrassing part's over, I promise." Charlie assured her.
Bella shot him a wary glance, he seemed to be more composed now, his face was back to its regular colour. He sank back down onto the sofa, sighing with relief now that he was past the sex speech.
"Well, what is it?" Bella said grumpily.
"I just want to know more about this upcoming dance at the school."
"Really?" Bella said, puzzled as to why he would be so interested. "Well, I made plans with Angela. She was stressing because she didn't have a date to the dance – her parents have been giving her grief about it- so I said she could double date with me, Jake and Embry."
"Oh, Embry." Charlie nodded approvingly. "He's a good kid, just like Jake. Good call, kiddo."
"Thanks, I'm glad you approve." Bella didn't bother to hide the veiled sarcasm in her tone. "Now can I go?"
"Not just yet." Charlie gave her a rueful smile.
"You mean there's more?" Bella whined.
"The principal asked me to be one of the chaperones at the dance. I said yes. And I asked Tiffany if she would like to be my plus one for the evening. I just thought I better let you know in advance."
Bella's face paled. "You mean…you're going to be there for the whole night?"
"Uh huh!" Charlie grinned smugly and turned the sound back on the flat screen. He slumped lower into the cushions, looking very pleased with himself indeed, much to Bella's irritation.
Bella didn't know it, but her night was just about to get a whole lot worse. It was late, but she really needed to see Jacob and blow off some steam. The dance was supposed to be their chance of a romantic night without the olds intruding. Now they were going to have to be on their best behaviour with Charlie breathing down their neck all night. It wasn't fair.
Why did the school insist on chaperones anyway? It was a ridiculously outdated concept. And for the principal to ask Charlie to be one of them meant he was probably expecting trouble, especially after the recent spate of arson attacks in town, he was being cautious, making sure he had law enforcement around just to be on the safe side. It was understandable, but also very annoying.
Bella grabbed her jacket and shoved her arms through the sleeves as she headed to the front door.
Charlie looked up from the game he was watching on TV, his expression still smug "Off to see Jake, I presume." He didn't seem surprised at all. "Don't stay out too late."
"Yes, Dad." Bella muttered as she darted out of the door.
Acting on instinct, Bella couldn't help looking over her shoulder a few times as she jogged to her truck, but the night was so black that she couldn't see much anyway. An odd feeling had been haunting her all day, the feeling of being watched. She hadn't felt that sensation since Edward and the Cullens quit town.
Bella felt her way along the side of the truck until she found the handle. Her eyes were just beginning to adjust as she shoved the keys into the ignition. She twisted them hard to the left, but instead of deafeningly roaring to life, the engine just clicked. She tried again with the same results.
"This cannot be happening!" Bella cursed under her breath.
And then a small motion in her peripheral vision made her jump.
"Fuck!" She gasped in shock when she saw she wasn't alone in the cab.
Edward Cullen was suddenly beside her, a faint bright spot in the darkness, only his hands moving as he turned a mysterious black object around and around. It was the same object he had used to disable her truck once before. It brought with it a horrible sense of déjà vu, thrusting Bella back into the distant past. It was like all her nightmares were coming back to haunt her all at once.
Edward stared at the object as he spoke. "Alice had a vision." He murmured.
Alice! Bella had forgotten all about the little psychic. Edward must have had her watching the whole time they had been away. Bella felt a wave of nausea wash over her and her heart sank.
"There is trouble in Seattle. As I presume you are very much aware. It's been in the papers as well as all over the news." Edward continued lightly. "She got nervous when your future abruptly disappeared as soon as you made the decision to step out tonight to see Jacob Black. She can't see past the wolves, you know. So, it makes tracking you a lot harder.""
Bella's eyes, already wide with nerves, popped wider. This was new information. She had no idea that Alice's visions were severely restricted when it came to the wolf pack. It was good to know. She filed that information away for later use.
"When you decide to mingle your fate with theirs, you disappear, too." Edward explained as if they were two people engaging in casual chit-chat. "You couldn't know that part, I realize that. But can you understand why that might make me a little…anxious? Alice saw you disappear, and she couldn't even tell if you got home or not. Your future just got lost, just like that."
Bella laid her hands on the steering wheel, gripping it so tightly her knuckles turned white. She was so panic-stricken at Edward's sudden reappearance that her tongue had become stuck to the roof of her mouth. Her throat had closed, making her unable to speak. She tried to sort through the mess of her tangled thoughts while he droned on.
"We're not sure why this is. Some natural defence they were born with?" He spoke as if he as talking to himself now, still looking at the piece of the truck's engine as he twirled it in his hands. "That doesn't seem entirely likely, since I haven't had any trouble reading their thoughts in the past. The Black's at least. Carlisle theorizes that it's because their lives are so ruled by their transformations. Its more an unvoluntary reaction than a decision. Utterly predictable, and it changes everything about them. In that instant when they shift from one form to the other, they don't really exist. The future can't hold them…"
Bella was only half listening to his musings. She was breathing deeply, trying to summon the necessary courage to escape. He was supposed to have been gone for good. He had promised…or had he? She tried to remember his exact words the day he had cornered her and taken her into the woods to tell her that he and his family were leaving.
"It will be like I never existed…."
No, he'd said more than that. He had tried to extract a promise from her.
"Don't do anything reckless or stupid. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Bella remembered the intense way he'd said those words. She had brushed him off, of course. Just relieved that he was finally going to be out of her life for good.
"The wolves are dangerous, Bella. For your own safety, you must stay away from them. If you promise me this, I'll make my own promise in return. This will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me. It will be as if I never existed."
That was it -that was the twisted promise he had made! A promise with a caveat, giving him the perfect excuse to return. If she stayed away from Jacob and the wolf pack, he would stay away from her. But she hadn't stayed away, and so he had decided, neither should he. She could imagine his deluded thought processes as he tried to justify breaking his promise never to come back.
"I'll put your car together in time for school." He assured her after a minute.
Bella mashed her lips together, she retrieved her keys from the ignition, and pushed open the door of the truck. "I'm going inside now." She said shakily, finally finding her voice. "As soon as I do, I'm going to tell my father everything. You were supposed to stay away. You broke your promise."
Edward sighed heavily. "As you have broken yours."
"Is that how you justify it to yourself?" Bella demanded, her voice rising in frustration. "I knew it. You are so easy to read, Edward Cullen!"
Edward's brows drew down as his own frustration shone through. "I wish I could say the same about you." He said petulantly. "Your mind is like a steel trap."
"GOOD!" Bella snapped, slamming the door on him.
She stomped to the house, her anger overriding her fear. But once again, Edward appeared beside her.
"There is one more thing you should know." He said, inserting himself in her path. "Because of the disturbing situation that is arising in Seattle, my family and I will be moving back to Forks for the interim."
"No, you can't!" Bella's face turned white.
"Yes, we can." Edward answered smoothly. "I'll leave it to you to inform the wolf pack."
"Jake will run you out of town!" Bella cried, clenching her fists at her sides.
"He will have to abide by the treaty just as we will." Edward reminded her. "Don't be difficult, Bella. We're here to protect you and this town. You should be more grateful." His voice had a hard edge to it as he continued. "As you must be aware by now, the wolf pack are limited in what they can do to resolve the situation in Seattle, my family and I, however, are not."
Bella scowled. "You're using this whole situation in Seattle as an excuse to insert yourself back into my life. I won't have it. Stay away from me!"
"Not everything is about you, Bella." Edward stated severely. "If this thing in Seattle gets any further out of control, it will affect all of us, becoming noticed by others who you really don't want becoming involved. It will not bode well for anyone if they do. Now, run inside like a good girl, and do not leave your house again tonight. I will be around to keep watch. For now, I'll bid you goodnight!"
Just as Bella opened her mouth to demand what he meant by that cryptic remark about the mysterious others becoming involved, he disappeared abruptly into the night.
"What's wrong?" Charlie demanded when he heard the front door slam.
"Truck won't start." Bella replied tremulously. She was still shaking from the unexpected encounter.
"Want me to look at it?"
"No. It will be fine by the morning."
"How do you know that?" Charlie asked in confusion. "Bells, what's going on?"
Tears formed in Bella's eyes. She blinked them away angrily. Now wasn't the time to give into her fraught emotions and fall apart. She had to be strong.
"Dad." She declared, taking in a huge breath to steady her nerves. "We've got a problem."
A/N-thanks for reading!