Jessica was looking forward to Thanksgiving even just to have a few days she could breathe between the tidal waves of classes, projects, and essays. She would finally be able to see her high school friends and her family again. Most importantly, she would see Sunny again. She missed her dog with a deep longing that had her staring at photos of golden retriever puppies and crying.

Bonnie, Scott, Kira, and Stiles left together for New Orleans. Riley was catching a ride with them and they would drop him off at Santa Fe. Stiles was the most excited to go home and had regaled Jessica with their favorite places around the city. He had finagled a promise from her to visit someday (preferably around Mardi Gras) and she had agreed.

Edward would be going to New York. As much as he denied it, he had missed his family even as he complained about how his siblings would be annoying him again. He had suggested coming with her to Forks but she declined. There were only so many excuses he could make for not eating her mom's cooking and Jessica would expire from embarrassment at the thought of her mother ever walking in on her and Edward in her childhood bedroom.

"Maybe you can come visit me in New York for winter break," Edward suggested. "We could do all the cringe-worthy tourist things."

"Maybe for New Year's," Jessica agreed. "Can you handle being surrounded by drunken people while we watch the ball drop at the Rockefeller Center?"

He grimaced before pulling her closer to him. "Anything for you, I suppose."

"I know you hate partying with the kids, grandpa."

"It is a sacrifice I am willing to make."

He dipped down and kissed her. She smiled, feeling light and giddy. They had sneaked in time together when she wasn't busy. She fell asleep in his apartment as he read classic literature to her. She made love to him on the couch while watching that rain scene in The Notebook. She would miss him like a limb.

He pulled away, his lips resting at her temple. "Call me when you can't sleep, when the thoughts in your head cannot be quiet. I will be waiting."

"Take photos of New York and make me wish I was there with you," she replied. "Put dye in Rosalie's shampoo."

He snorted. "She would kill me."

"Blame it on Jasper."

He laughed and shook his head. "That would never work."

He kissed her half a dozen times, the falling leaves around them. The world was orange hues and soft browns. She vowed to keep this memory in mind as she had to part with him. As he drove away in Mo the Volvo, she thought it had to be a strange thing that the world felt colder without him.


Jessica and Eric had promised to see each other in college but they had both been swamped with their studies and the five hour drive made meeting up difficult. They were genuinely excited to see each other when she picked him up from the train station for the long drive back to Forks. Eric had been going to the beach and had a healthy tan which she envied as she was the type to go red like a lobster. He looked good and she started teasing him about girls.

Eric was flustered. "Quit it, Jess. No one's interested in me."

"Don't lie to me, Eric Yorkie," She gave him a look. "You're cute and there has to be leggy California babes just hoping you'd notice them."

He shook his head at her but he was smiling. "You flatter me but no."

"Why not? Are they blind?"

Eric was cute in that geeky boy next door way. He would be the kind of boy parents liked when you brought them home. He would take bazillion photos of you and know your mom's birthday. He was genuinely sweet and thoughtful and she might've been better off liking him instead of Mike when they were in high school.

"They have great eyesight and that's why they're staying far away from the hot mess that I am," he pointed out. "My diet consists of nachos and Red Bull. I am barely surviving."

"Oh God. Same," she confessed. "I still eat Cheetos in replacement of meals even when Riley tells me I'm gonna dye my insides orange."

"Who's Riley?"

"A friend," She snorted. "He's a self-aware hipster. Listens to Vampire Weekend and wears knitted hats. You know the type."

He paused then asked, "How's Edward?"

"He's in New York visiting his family."

"And are you still together?"

"Yes. He can't get rid of me even if he tried."

Not that Edward would ever try. He was as stupidly in love with her as she was with him.

"It's nice that one of us has a love life," Eric said. "And with Edward Cullen. He didn't even date anybody in high school before you."

If only Eric knew the full story of how they got together. It wasn't just stubbornness and stupidity in the way. There was the whole vampire thing and Edward being as old as dirt. Sometimes she couldn't help but think about all the ways they could've never gotten together and it freaked her out. Everything felt like chance and she wasn't enough of a romantic to believe in destiny and soul mates.

"Edward didn't really want to fall in love with me," she told Eric, keeping her eyes on the road. "It just kind of happened."

"Kinda like gravity, huh? You try to fight it but you'll fall eventually."

"That's one way to explain the Law of Gravity."

"Jokes aside, Jessica Stanley, you fell in love and that's a beautiful thing."

"More like annoying," She gave him a smile. "And just between you and me, girls do notice you. Angela had a crush on you the fourth grade."

He gaped at her like a fish and sputtered, "Wha…what? How come nobody told me?"

"Don't tell Angie I told you. She'd kill me."


After dropping Eric off at his house, Jessica was more than relieved to drive up to her childhood home on Evergreen Loop. She parked her car in the garage and made her way inside the house, carrying her duffle bag. She was greeted by an excited Sunny who made yipping noises and ran in circles around her, tail wagging constantly. She dropped to her knees and petted Sunny's fluffy face.

"Did you miss me, Sunny?" she cooed. "Did you miss me?"

Sunny licked at her face and let out more excited yips as if answering her with "Yes, human. Of course I missed you. Don't stop petting me" and Jessica obliged. She hugged her dog and took in the relief of being able to come home.

"Hi, Jess," Emily was there and holding that ukulele she could never be parted with. She whispered conspiringly, "We have a guest coming."

"Who?"

They never had guests for holidays. All their relatives were in Maine. And no one really wanted to make the cross-country trip. They had holidays with their neighbors occasionally like the Webers. The Stanleys never hosted dinners. They were not that kind of family.

The doorbell rang and Jessica gave a questioning look to Emily who shrugged. Jessica got to her feet and was about to go to the door but her harried mother ran out from the kitchen. Joan Stanley had dressed up and was wearing a nice black dress, had blow-dried her hair, and was wearing subtle but flattering make-up. She didn't say anything to Jessica as she opened the front door and Sheriff Swan was there with a bottle of wine.

Jessica didn't think she'd ever seen him out of his uniform. He was wearing a brown blazer and almost sheepishly handed the bouquet of daisies to her mother who smiled. Her mother was blushing. What was happening?

He said, "I brought red wine. I hope that's okay."

"No, no, it's perfect," her mother replied. "Pinot Noir goes perfectly with turkey."

Jessica got to her feet. "Turkey?"

They hadn't had turkey for Thanksgiving since before her dad passed away and her mother complained about the leftovers and they had to settle for chicken.

"Oh, hi Jessica," Her mother finally noticed she was there. "We're having a turkey this year. Charlie's going to be having dinner with us."

Her mother was on a first name basis with the Sheriff. Her mom was dating Sheriff Swan. How did this happen? She looked accusingly at her sister like this was all her fault and Emily frowned at her and walked back into the kitchen.

"We're almost done with dinner," her mother told 'Charlie'. "Why don't you watch some TV in the meantime?"

"I don't mind helping," Sheriff Swan replied. "What are you making?"

She smiled brightly at him. "Mashed potatoes with marshmallows. They're Jessica's favorite."

Still trying to process what was happening, Jessica excused herself and went to her room. She dropped her duffle bag on the floor and collapsed face first on her bed. Sunny followed her and poked her wet nose against her elbow. Without raising her head, she petted her dog and was happy something stayed the same.

Dinner was awkward but Jessica hadn't expected anything less. Her mom did most of the talking and Sheriff Swan would give short answers. He wasn't rude or disinterested, just not very talkative. While Stanleys could talk for hours, Sheriff Swan wasn't and that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The thing that made it really weird for Jessica was he was sitting at the place that had once solely belonged to her dad.

When Sheriff Swan excused himself to use the bathroom, she turned to her mom and asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were dating the Sheriff?"

Her mother went red and took a long sip of her wine. Jessica turned to her sister who raised both her hands and remarked, "Don't bring me into this. She told me not to tell you."

"I was going to tell you today," her mom finally said. "Charlie just got here first."

"You could've texted me on the way here! Or emailed me," Jessica pointed out. "And how did you two even happen?"

"Well, I was getting coffee one day and he was getting one too and we just kinda bumped into each other."

"Oh, you had a rom-com meet cute? And you didn't tell me?"

Her mother took another sip of wine. "I know. These kinds of things don't happen to women my age."

"You are due your mid-life crisis," She snickered at her mom's glare. "I'm kidding. Forty-one is not that old."

"Charlie's not even forty yet, just so you know."

Which translated to - he'd been teen dad. She didn't know that about him. Maybe he wasn't as boring as she thought. She had heard he was divorced and had a daughter that lived in a different state but she hadn't been too interested in the details.

"Dating a younger man," Jessica gave her mom a look. "Are you sure you're not having a mid-life crisis?"

Whatever her mom was about to say was cut-off because Sheriff Swan was back and they spent the rest of dinner talking amiably. Sheriff Swan asked her about college and remarked that his daughter was planning on transferring to Stanford next semester. Jessica remembered that brunette she met a few months ago that tried to hit on Edward. She thought the girl's surname was Swan.

"Is she pale with brown hair?" Jessica asked. "Says 'um' a lot. Lives in Arizona or something?"

Sheriff Swan nodded. "She grew up in Arizona but she and her mom live in Florida now."

"I think I met her."

"You met Bella?"

Jessica gave a very inaccurate summary of the event that excluded anything about vampires and her being possessive and jealous of her boyfriend who was about to murder Sheriff Swan's daughter in public. Sheriff Swan was apparently going to be taking her mom and sister fishing this summer and invited Jessica to go with them. She had a feeling she would hate fishing like she hated camping but the pleading look from her mother was hard to resist. She hoped there was cell service wherever they were going.

While Charlie Swan was very different to her father who was talkative and made cheesy science jokes, she thought Sheriff Swan was a good guy. Everyone in town knew him and had no bad thing to say about him. She couldn't resent his presence because she hadn't seen her mom so happy in a long time. Jessica had watched her mother grieve for her husband and lived for her daughters and faced every problem by herself. If she had been younger, she might've been pitched a fit and accused her mom of her trying to replace her dad but she knew better. There was no replacing her dad but her mom deserved some happiness.

After dinner, Sheriff Swan left and Jessica watched him drive away in his police car. She lied down on her bed and checked the time on her phone. It was nearly ten in the evening and it would be one in the morning in New York. She considered calling Edward but she didn't know if he was busy with his family. She never asked what vampires did for Thanksgiving.

Instead, she sent him a text and told him she missed him. He replied after a minute. I miss you too, Jessica. I wish you were here.

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to push away the deep longing trying to overcome her. She would see him next week. She would survive until then. She would not be that girl who couldn't survive without her boyfriend.

Edward sent her a photo. It was of the night sky. It looked like it was taken from the rooftop of a building. Wherever we are, we're looking at the same sky.

She had to reply to that. God, you're cheesy.

You love it.

She even missed how he was always right.


This is more of a filler chapter but we got some stuff done.

1. I just really wanted to get Charlie into the story. He was one of my fave characters in the films. Canonically, Charlie was about 19-20 when he and Renee had Bella. As the wiki said, he met Renee and married her his first year out of the police academy and he didn't go to college cause he was taking care of his elderly parents.

2. Will Bella be in this story? Still no plans to have here with the gang at Stanford. We don't need her. But since Charlie is gonna be around, she will be mentioned.

3. My dream cast for Joan Stanley is Christine Keeler.