The next few days passed with very little happening at all. Charlie and I moved completely into the Cullen house, much to Edward's eternal joy and Charlie's grumbled mutterings, and graduation came and went with little fanfare at all. The Cullen's happily added their diploma's and caps to an ever growing collection and I marked my very first but it felt like an empty achievement. It didn't really mean anything. Both my dad and Edward tried to comfort me, saying that there was nothing stopping me from going to college once we moved to Virginia, either by correspondence or something more local, and that a High School Diploma was still a very impressive achievement regardless.

I guess my bad mood wasn't helped by the fact that Renee didn't bother to come see me graduate. Some half-assed excuse about it being a busy time for Phil's training and that they've been trying for a baby and she had doctor's appointments to… help things along which was way more information than I ever wanted or needed. I mentioned that she could come without her husband and just press pause on the baby making attempts, but she said she didn't like travelling alone, which fine, that was true enough – Renee had a nervous disposition, and travelling and airports just made it worse, I would honestly hate to see her attempt the ordeal by herself, she would probably work herself up into a panic attack or something and end up being held by TSA for suspicious behaviour.

It was fine, everything was fine. It's not like Renee and I were ever that close, rather we just sorta existed within each other's space until I finally went to stay with Charlie for the Summer or Charlie came and got me for one of our very frequent weekends away. I knew that Renee was uncomfortable with my lycanthropy, but it wasn't until Edward and Charlie – and to some extent all of the Cullen's – had helped me to accept both sides of my being that I truly realised just how much damage Renee's attempts at parenting had caused me.

Because, the one thing that Renee wanted above all else was for her daughter to be normal, and like any child, I had desperately wanted to make my mom happy, to make her proud to have me as a daughter. When I was younger, I didn't understand the way she would sometimes look at me every month around the full moon – eyes tight with worry and fear, and no small amount of resentment. I tried to mould myself into who I thought my mom wanted me to be, so I did what any little kid did – I mimicked. I dressed the way my mom dressed, insisted that I liked the same things she did, begged and pleaded to be taken to mommy-daughter-dance classes after I had seen old faded photographs of Renee in a tutu. Renee was always more than happy to indulge me, like I said, it wasn't as if Renee was a bad mom, or withheld love and affection or anything like that. It was just that no matter what I did – or didn't do – I never felt as if I was enough for her. I wasn't a good enough daughter, no matter how hard I tried. And for a little kid, that messes with your head and I couldn't figure out why nothing I did ever made anything better, and then, when I was eight years old I finally found out why.

Of course, I had known before then that I was … different. I heard things I shouldn't, and apparently normal kids couldn't smell people let alone tell individual people apart from their smell alone, but it wasn't until Charlie helped me through my first full moon transformation that the extent of my strangeness really came to light.

I knew that it wasn't anything overtly hostile or mean, I knew that my mom loved me, no matter what. It's just I also knew that her love for me made her wish that I wasn't a werewolf, because being a werewolf meant being in danger, and like any parent, Renee didn't like her kid being in danger. Or at least… at least I thought so. It's what I would have said, anyway, before she made a piss-poor excuse not to come to my graduation.

I think, that as I grew up, and the more she saw of my transformations and the larger my wolf became, that the fear for my safety morphed into a fear for her own. Or maybe her love for me was eclipsed by her desire to be normal and the realisation that I never would be.

I wasn't bitter about it. I wasn't. Not at all.

"I don't even know why she even married you." I grumbled to Charlie as we sat on either side of the Weichi board, black and white stones covered the antique wood surface in a confusing pattern that was the result of our erratic play strategies butting heads – it was like a piece of modern art attempting to demonstrate our unpredictable relationship, the peculiar give and take of an entirely unique father-daughter connection that no one could ever really understand, ourselves included. "I mean… she ended up divorcing you but you get what I mean." I muttered.

Charlie barked out a short humourless laugh – more a dry scoff than a laugh – and placed a stone on the board, and I huffed out an annoyed breath as Charlie took a few of my stones prisoner. "Your mom was very different person when she was younger." he said as he added my stones to his growing collection.

"If you say so." I shrugged as I thought over my next move.

"When I told her what I was she thought it was all very… exciting." Charlie mused, "I did warn her of the dangers of being married to a werewolf, but she was adamant we wed regardless."

"Why?" I asked exasperated. Renee did not find my werewolfiness exciting she found it at best a nuisance and at worst, frightening.

Charlie sighed, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the conversation or because of the half a dozen stones of his that I took prisoner. "She was young, eighteen and straight out of high school, trying to do anything and everything to escape her mother." Charlie sighed again and took his turn, "You remember your grandmother," he added ruefully. I did indeed, shrill and controlling, she was everything Renee tried not to be, even I had to admit it must have been stifling for Renee to grow up with a woman like that for a mother. Even if she were kind to me I never missed the thinly veiled insults she always threw in Renee's direction. "Your mother dated me because she knew it would upset your grandmother, even without knowing my secret I was not the type of man your grandmother would approve of. Then… knowing what I was just made it all the more exciting for her I suppose. Another thing her mother wouldn't like, and a secret to keep from her to boot."

"Yeah, well, I wished she still thought it was all just an exciting adventure." I grumbled unhappily.

Charlie reached across the Cullen's dining table and took my hand in his, "I'm sorry." he murmured sincerely.

"What? Why?" I asked, my head tilted slightly in confusion.

Charlie squeezed my hand once before pulling away, "It's no secret that you weren't exactly… planned." Charlie offered a small, apologetic smile. "You managed to circumvent two different methods of birth control." he added with an amused smirk.

"Gross." I muttered.

Charlie chuckled. "My point is, neither your mom or me planned for kids, and your mom definitely never planned for a werewolf kid." at seeing my disgruntled face he continued, "I'm not saying that she hasn't done anything wrong…" Charlie paused for a moment, uncertain on whether or not to continue, "I am… hesitant to say anything bad about your mother in front of you, because if nothing else she is still your mother and therefore is still a part of you, but Bella, there have been many mistakes Renee took in your upbringing, and I did my best to fix things were I could, when I could and I just…" Charlie sighed again, his shoulders slumping. "I'm not saying you have to forgive her, or give her any slack that you don't feel is due but just remember, Bella, she's only human."

She's only human.

It's a given that she would make mistakes. She's only human. It's only fair that as she tried to build a new life – a new family – that she would try and distance herself from her old one. She's only human.

XxXx

"Have you ever considered just, oh I don't know, getting a spotify account?" I asked as I taped up yet another box of records, "Oh hell, just buying the albums digitally? If this is a whole 'support artists' thing." I continued.

"Yes, I've thought about it." Edward replied as he continued to pack his records into a box with over-exaggerated care, "But it's not the same. Listening to a record on vinyl is an experience, Bella."

"An experience in pointlessness." I grumbled petulantly, "You have more records than I have belongings. Seriously. Everything I own can fit in two suitcases," I paused for a moment while I thought it over, "Well, two suitcases and a backpack." I amended with a shrug.

"Yes, well I have been collecting records since the 20's, so I think with that taken into account I have shown remarkable restraint." Edward teased with a crooked smile.

"God, you're so old." I teased with a dramatic sigh as I draped myself over the day bed.

"Oh, are you done helping, now, is that it?" Edward teased back as he stood up straight with his hands on his hips.

"We both know you could be done with this in five second flat." I deadpanned, "So do you wanna tell me what this is really about?"

Edward's face softened as he stepped across the room. "Maybe I just wanted to spend time with you." he hedged but at my unimpressed look he sighed, "I just wanted to get your mind off of things." he admitted as he sat down next to where I was laying on the day bed. "It's pretty hard not to notice that you've been depressed since we've graduated."

"I'm not depressed." I immediately argued.

"Bella," Edward said reproachfully.

"I'm not." I stressed. "I just… it feels like I'm waiting for something, but I don't know what." I sighed. "Graduation felt… anticlimactic, like this thing I have been working towards for literally half my life doesn't mean anything."

"It does mean something." Edward hastily interrupted. "Graduating high school is a very impressive accomplishment that you should be proud of."

"Yeah, says the guy with half a dozen high school diplomas and a couple graduate degrees to boot." I rolled my eyes.

"That's besides the point."

"Yeah, yeah." I muttered as I closed my eyes and wriggled a little bit on the day bed, stretching out languidly as my joints popped satisfyingly. I heard Edward's breath catch in his throat and I peeked open one eye to have a look at him. Edward's eyes that had been as bright as marigolds only moments ago had darkened to a beautifully dangerous amber, and they had become fixated on the small sliver of skin at my waist that had become visible as my shirt had ridden up when I stretched. A flirty smile curled my lips as I blinked up at him, "Hey," I murmured suggestively.

I could see the muscles in Edward's neck move as he swallowed thickly as his eyes travelled up my torso, lingering on my chest for just a moment, before his gaze met my own. "Bella," he breathed.

My smirk turned into a toothy grin as I reached up and curled my fingers around the fabric of his shirt, Edward offered no resistance as I pulled him down. Our lips met in a crashing kiss, and the leather of the day bed creaked as Edward rearranged himself as to have a better angle with which is plunder my mouth. The kiss started slow and soft as our lips lovingly moved against each other, Edward's tongue flicked out flirtatiously, just the barest of of touches. I gasped a soft moan at the feeling of his cool tongue on my lips and the taste of him seeped into my mouth like honeyed wine. My arms snaked up to coil behind Edward's neck and draw him closer as his tongue explored my mouth as if he were trying to map the interior with his tongue and touch alone. Edward shifted again and I could feel his chest press against my own and Edward's thigh in between my legs as he lay out over top of me. The sudden weight of Edward's thigh and the hardness of his unyielding muscles made me groan as I instinctively rocked against him. Edward moaned, a deep sound that seemed to catch in his throat as the movement caused friction against the rapidly hardening length I could feel pressed against my thigh.

"Bella," Edward gasped against my lips, his hips rutted against my thigh once before stuttering to a stop and I blinked open to see Edward staring down at me in uncertainty. My heart was thundering in my chest and I felt light headed but in the best possible way, but Edward looked like he was seconds away from apologising and extracting himself from the situation and that was just unacceptable.

"Please, don't stop." I whimpered, digging my fingernails into his back as I accentuated my words with another roll of my hips. The pressure against my core sent bolts of the most pleasurable lightening through my body, and it seemed that Edward wasn't immune either as he released a groan that was half pleasure and half reluctant surrender as he pressed his lips back to mine.

This time, I wasn't the only one moving. As we kissed I rocked against Edward's thigh and he pressed back in reply. My breathing was becoming ragged, coming in short gasps and whimpers as each hard press of Edward's muscled thigh sent wonderful waves of pleasure through my core and coiled at the bottom of my stomach. I pulled back from Edward's lips in an attempt to catch my breath as I began to roll my hips faster, harder against Edward's leg and with a moan that bordered on a growl Edward rutted faster in turn. Edward placed wet, messy kisses along the length of my jaw, each spot tingled in pleasure. "Edward," I whimpered, my hands pressed his body close against mine and I felt Edward's hand clutch my waist in an iron grip as Edward began to move faster, more urgently.

"Bella," Edward moaned my name into my neck, his tongue laving at the rapidly pulsing vein in my throat. "Oh, my Bella."

"Yes!" I gasped as the coil in my stomach wound tighter, and tighter, before it exploded into an overwhelming wave of pleasure that caused my entire body to seize and shake as the strength of my rapturous climax inundated my senses. "Ed-ward" I gasped out in a breathy moan as I began to come down from my high.

Edward's teeth nipped at my ear, each of his breaths came out in a strained groan as he rutted against my leg before stuttering to a faulting stop as he groaned out my name in a euphoric chant, "Bella, Bella, Bella, my Bella. Mine."

"Yours." I panted, trying to catch my breath.

"All mine." Edward grumbled, nuzzling his face into my neck, into my hair, taking deep gulping breaths of my scent. "All mine. Only mine." he continued, his voice deep and possessive.

"Only yours." I breathed, "Forever."