Waking Up
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Compromise
Bella placed a mug of black coffee in front of Charlie, then took the seat opposite him at the kitchen table. They sat knee deep in silence. The faucet dripped into the sink, each drop reverberating around the room like a cymbal, yet neither one moved to stop it. Outside there was no traffic or bird song. The tension was rife. Bella's mouth felt dryer than a sandbox in summer as she waited for Charlie to say something, anything. She tentatively took a sip of her own coffee to moisten her throat.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Bella." He said wearily. "I can't even summon up the energy to be mad about the bikes. Its just another thing I'm finding out about after the fact."
"Dad, I'm sorry – "
Charlie held up his hand to stop her talking. "I don't want your apologies, Bells. Sorry doesn't cut it anymore. Like I said before, you're an adult now, you make your own decisions. I can worry about you. I can give you advice. But, in the end, its your choice about how you live your life."
Bella looked at him warily, feeling a cautious thread of hope tug at her heart. "Does this mean you're willing to accept Edward in my life?"
Charlie's expression clouded as he shook his head. "That's never gonna happen, kiddo. Not in this lifetime." He sounded so adamant that Bella's faint hope immediately died. "And I'm not budging on my ultimatum-as I said, the choice is yours."
"I don't want to move out." Bella pleaded, curling her fingers tightly around the warm mug of coffee. Charlie took a sip of his own as he listened. "I'm begging you not to force my hand, Dad. Is there no way we can reach a compromise?"
"I don't see how." Charlie folded his arms across his chest and glared out of the kitchen window at the sheeting rain outside. "I won't have that boy in my house."
"And he won't be." Bella said, crossing her fingers underneath the table, hoping that her white lie didn't show on her face. Edward wouldn't step through the front door while Charlie was awake. However, there was nothing stopping him entering her room through the window during the evening and at night. If Charlie was unaware of his presence, it was all good.
"What does that mean?" Charlie looked at her critically.
"It means I'll abide by all the rules you give me. I know I have a lot of ground to make up. I will still see Edward during the day at school, but afterwards, I'll come straight home. You won't have to see him or talk to him." Bella leaned forward in her seat, her chocolate brown eyes pleading with Charlie to show restraint. "I can't give him up, Dad. I won't. But I don't want my relationship with him to come between us. I think that's a fair compromise, don't you?"
Charlie let out a slow controlled breath and attempted to loosen his body movements by unfolding his arms and rolling his shoulders. He took a moment to consider her words, part of him unwilling to back down, but a much a bigger part willing to agree to the compromise because he didn't want to lose his daughter. He hated acting like a hard ass. It wasn't in his nature.
"We could try it for a few weeks." Bella continued cautiously. She could tell that Charlie was wavering. She knew he didn't really want her to leave. And besides, her father's rules would give her some time away from Edward during the afternoon and evening, without her having to verbally express that she needed some space after catching him out like that.
Bella didn't think that Edward had deliberately lied to her. Maybe he had read a passing thought in Charlie's head, about him thinking about packing her bags, because he was so angry after Jacob told him about the bikes. Bella continued to rationalize Edward's actions in her head. She refused to believe he had deliberately lied to her. It was an honest mistake. It had to be.
"Okay." Charlie sighed, raising his hands as if in surrender. "We'll give it a trial run."
"Seriously?" Bella perked up.
Charlie held up one finger. "Conditionally."
Bella's enthusiasm vanished. "What does that mean?"
"It means that during the times you are free, I want you to think about spending it with your other friends."
They stared at each other for a long moment.
"When was the last time you spoke to Angela Weber?" Charlie threw at her.
Before Edward's return, Bella's school friends had polarized into two groups. She liked to think of those groups as good vs evil. Us and them worked, too. The good guys were Angela, her steady boyfriend Ben Cheney, and Mike Newton; these three had all very generously forgiven her for going crazy when Edward left. Lauren Mallory was the evil core of the them side, and almost everyone else, including her first friend in Forks, Jessica Stanley, seemed to go along with the anti-Bella agenda.
With Edward back at school, the dividing line had become even more distinct. His return had taken its toll on Mike's friendship, but Angela remained unswervingly loyal, and Ben followed her lead. Despite the natural aversion most humans felt toward the Cullens, Angela sat dutifully beside Alice every day at lunch. It was difficult not to be charmed by the Cullens once one gave them a chance to be charming.
"Outside of school?" Charlie asked, calling her attention back.
"I haven't seen anyone outside of school, Dad. You've grounded me. And Angela has a boyfriend, too. She's always with Ben."
Charlie hesitated a moment. "You and Jake used to be joined at the hip, and now – "
Bella cut him off quickly. "Don't go there, Dad. Jake and I…well…things are a little strained between us right now."
Charlie frowned in disapproval. "Are you really trying, kiddo? Or is this all an act to try and placate me?"
Bella was stunned by that observation. "No. I am trying. Honestly."
"I hope that's true. I won't have you playing me for a fool, Bells. I don't think you should dump all your other friends for Edward." Charlie said sternly. "It's not nice, and I think your life would be better balanced if you kept some other people in it. Maybe it might show you that your relationship with Edward isn't as perfect as you paint it out to be."
Bella flinched at his criticism of Edward. "We have some issues. I'm not denying that. And we have things to work through, but we're getting there."
"So, you say. I think you should take your rose-tinted glasses off for a second, kiddo. There's a big world out there, filled with so many opportunities you haven't begun explore yet. Don't limit yourself to one boy, especially one who so cruelly broke your heart, and walked right back into your life without having to work hard to earn your forgiveness. You deserve so much better than that. What happened last September…"
Bella flinched again.
"Well," Charlie muttered defensively. "If you'd had more of a life outside of Edward Cullen in the first place, it might not have hit you so hard when he left."
"It would have been exactly like that." Bella protested.
"Oh, give me a break, Bella. As soon as you let yourself stop wallowing, you managed to break free from your depression. And how did you manage that? Oh, yes, you got off your ass and spent time with another human being-AKA Jacob."
Bella felt her heart plummet. "I've tried with Jacob. You know I have."
"Maybe not hard enough. Use your new freedom to see your other friends, particularly Jacob. Keep it balanced. If I can see you making more of an effort to do that, I may feel inclined to relax the rules a bit. Do we have a deal, kiddo?"
Bella nodded slowly. "Yes. Balance is good." She sighed. "Jacob might be difficult."
"The Blacks are practically family, Bella." He said, stern and fatherly again. "And Jacob has been a very, very good friend to you."
"I know that." Bella acknowledged glumly. Her throat suddenly felt swollen, she had to clear it twice before she could continue. "I do miss him." She admitted, looking down in despair. "I miss him a lot."
"Then go and see him, Bella. Its not that difficult if you really want to try and make amends with him. Or is it Edward whose stopping you?" Charlie's eyes narrowed.
Bella gulped, knowing that his assumption was partially true. It wasn't something she was at liberty to explain. It was against the rules for normal people-human people like her and Charlie-to know about the clandestine world full of myths and monsters that existed secretly on the periphery. Bella only knew about that world by chance-and was in no small amount of trouble because of it. She wasn't about to pull Charlie into the mess that was her supernatural life.
"With Jacob there is a…conflict." Bella said aloud. "A conflict about the friendship thing, I mean." She felt a heated blush take over her face. "Friendship doesn't always seem to be enough for Jake." She wound her excuse out of details that were true but insignificant, hardly crucial to the fact that Jacob's werewolf pack bitterly hated Edward's vampire family- and therefore her, too. It wasn't just something she could work out in a note, and after their emotional confrontation outside the house again today, she wasn't sure he wouldn't go right back to ignoring her calls again.
Charlie looked grim. "Isn't Edward up for a little healthy competition?" He drawled sarcastically.
Bella's heated blush turned a dull red. "There is no competition."
Charlie sat forward in his seat, levelling his gaze to hers. "I'm not blind, kiddo. I've seen the way you look at him. Just as I've seen the way he looks at you. You can sit there in denial all you want, but Edward has competition, even if you refuse to acknowledge it."
Bella glared sulkily back at him.
Charlie relaxed in his seat again, satisfied that he had gotten his point across. "You're hurting Jake's feelings avoiding him like this. He'd rather be just friends than nothing."
Oh, now she was avoiding him?
"After today I'm pretty sure that Jake doesn't want to be friends at all." The words burned in her mouth, making her feel sick. "You're reading too much into things, Dad. I don't know where you get that idea anyway?"
Charlie just smiled. "Jake as much admitted that to me today."
Bella was astonished by this revelation. "He actually said that?"
"Not in so many words, but I can read between the lines. And you were always so happy after spending time with Jake." Charlie sighed.
"I'm happy now." Bella scowled fiercely.
The contrast between her words and tone broke through the last of the tension. Charlie burst into laughter, and soon Bella was joining in.
"I promise. Balance."
"And Jacob?" Charlie persisted.
"I'll do my best."
"Good. Find the balance, Bella. It might just open your eyes enough to see how trapped you are in your relationship with Cullen."
Bella's good mood vanished like a puff of smoke at Charlie's last words. She didn't call him out on it, though, thinking it wasn't worth another fight now that she had won her compromise. Soon enough, she was going to have to face Edward, night was already drawing in. He was probably already in her room, waiting for her to finish up with Charlie and head up the stairs. Oddly, she found herself reluctant to go up quite yet.
"I feel like watching a movie." She said to Charlie. "Do you want to watch it with me?"
Charlie was surprised by her offer. He couldn't remember the last time his daughter had asked to spend time together. He felt touched, believing that their talk about balance was already having an effect.
"Why not?" He said cheerfully. "As long as its not one of those costume dramas. I don't think I can stomach another woman in a bonnet."
Bella looked at him in amusement. "Okay, but no action films, either." She laughed. "Compromise, remember?"
"Sure, sure." Charlie agreed grudgingly, absently using one of Jacob's phrases. He shoved his chair away from the table and stretched as he got to his feet.
Bella did the same, her inner thoughts twisting into snarls around the Jacob problem, wondering how she was going to solve the dilemma without causing more hurt all round.
A/N-thanks for reading!