A/N Sorry its been a while. I've not been well, but I am still working on these stories. if you're still reading this please give me a hey or thumbs up. Trigger warning, this chapter discusses a parent grief over loosing there child.

Chapter 22

"Riley Biers, that boy's alive? Oh, thank god, his parents have been out of their minds." Relief flooded Charlie's features.

His expression soured when he looked around and realized no one else looked happy about this news.

Carlisle smiled sadly. "Chief Swan, If Alice is seeing him working with Victoria, that means he is one of us now. His parents are better off being told he has perished."

Narrowing his eyes at the doctor Charlie said, "My daughter seems to think she will become 'one of you.' someday. Was that the plan for her mother and me? To be told she had died!" If the fact that no one would look him in the eye didn't tell him he was right, the look on his daughter's face would have. His nostrils flared and tears burned his eyes. Jasper flinched and had to back farther away from Charlie, his emotions too potent to bear.

Trying to get things back on track Carlisle asked, "What does the girl look like Alice?"

"She's young, about fifteen or sixteen, she has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is small but not as small as me." Alice tilted her head and looked at the empty spot of grass in front of her like she was seeing something no one else could. Bella guessed she was. "There is something different about her." her eyebrows scrunched up. "Once the change takes her, she is not frenzied. Not like a normal newborn. She's…" her lips turned down and her bottom lip trembled. "Scared." Bella could swear that if vampires could cry, Alice would be. "Except for a few of the older ones, the others are unfocused. More like ravenous animals, than free-thinking people. Out of the few that seem to be rational only one wants this fight. If we want the advantage now would be the time for us to act."

Carlisle sighed, "It looks like we will be making plans for a trip to Seattle."

"Great," Bella said. "When do we leave?"

Her father blustered. "You won't be leaving anywhere!"

Bella started to protest but Edward cut her off. "Your fathers right. You will not be joining us!"

"But,"

"No!" both Charlie and Edward said, sounding way too similar.

"Bella," Carlisle said, "if you were to come with us, we would be too busy trying to protect you instead of concentrating on what needs to be done."

"You could change me right now and in three days,"

"No!" The word seemed to come from all directions.

"Bella," Jasper said kindly, "if someone were to change you right this second," a chorus of low growls echoed around the yard. "You would be more of a hindrance then if you were still human." it would take months for you to know your own mind again and that's before we can train you."

"But maybe I'll be different, like that girl. Alice could look and see."

"I can't Bella. Even with the flashes of you as one of us, a lot of your future is blank. Plus I'm sure even that girl can't resist the call to drink human blood."

Bella knew she wouldn't win, but there had to be something she could do to help. "Take my blood!" she blurted.

"Pardon?" Carlisle asked.

"Take my blood. If it makes them crazy and unfocused you can spill it somewhere, it would give you more of an advantage."

"Is that a good idea?" Charlie seemed to be asking the group.

"It's brilliant." Jasper smiled at her. She wasn't sure she ever saw him truly smile before.

"I guess I could donate to the cause." Charlie said. "What do we do, meet you at the hospital tomorrow?"

Carlisle smiled, "Yes, that will work just fine."

"Great, let's go Bells. I need to find somewhere to lie down."

"So we're going home?"

"No! We are going back to Billy's where I don't have to worry about your boyfriend sneaking in to watch you sleep."

"Oh, so Jacob can sneak in and watch me sleep again instead."

"What!" both her father and Edward shouted angrily. She shook her head. The similarity of the ways her father and her boyfriend reacted to her was starting to creep her out. They both turned to glare at Jake.

"I wasn't… I was just…" Jake frowned and glared at her. "Thanks a lot Bells."

She smiled brightly at him. "You're welcome."

He rolled his eyes at her dramatically.

"Chief Swan." Edward said politely. "I promise I will not enter your home without your express permission, unless there is an emergency."

"Define emergency."

"There is an imminent threat to Bella's life."

Charlie agreed to go back to their house as long as Edward stayed out of it. The ride home was filled with an intense silence. Charlie pulled into his spot and turned off the cruiser. He stared at the steering wheel and spoke so quietly Bella almost missed it. "How could you?" his shoulders moved with the deep breaths he was taking. "You were just going to disappear and let us think you were dead!"

"Dad I…"

"How could you do that to us? To me… to your mother?"

"Mom would want me to be happy!"

A humorless laugh fell from his lips. "Happy Bella, not dead!"

"I wouldn't be dead."

"We wouldn't have known that! What do you think that would have done to us? It would have destroyed us! You have no idea what even the thought of losing a child does to a parent, to actually lose one." Charlie's voice broke. He turned away from her but she still saw the tear that slid down his face.

"Dad, that doesn't have to happen now. You know everything so I'll be able to stay in your life."

"What about your mother? How are you going to explain not seeing her ever again, or are you just going to have me tell her you're dead? I will be the one to watch her crumple in pain, to see her overcome with a devastation that she will never completely heal from."

"No, mom will be fine. She will get over it."

"Get over it!? Bella, she will not get over it!" Charlie took another deep breath and let it out shakily. "I can't do this right now." he climbed out of the car and slammed the door behind him. Without looking back he trudged up the walkway and into the house.

Her father was nowhere in sight when she walked through the front door. She was grateful for that. Running upstairs Bella took a quick shower then put some of her own clothes on.

She grabbed a book and started reading, waiting for Edward to come in her window. After a few chapters she realized she wasn't absorbing anything she read. Putting the book down Bella began to pace the room. Groaning in aggravation she glared out the window. Where was he? He should be here by now. Maybe he was waiting for Charlie to fall asleep.

After her father had been snoring for about fifteen minutes and Edward still hadn't come through her window Bella stormed out of the house and into her yard to search for him. Instead of finding her boyfriend she found two wolves.

"Paul, Leah," she greeted. The smaller, almost wight wolf snorted at her. She smiled up at the wolf. "It's nice to see you too Leah." the wolf rolled her eyes.

The larger dark silver wolf stalked forward. Paul phased to humen not bothering to put on shorts because he knew it would make her uncomfortable. "Your leach isn't here,'' he snarled.

"I know," she lied. Keeping her eyes averted she said, "I just wanted to thank you."

"Let's get one thing straight, leach lover." he jabbed a finger in her direction. "I am not here to protect you." Pointing over at Leah he continued. "I am here to protect them and only them. If one of my pack has a leach on them and there is one coming after you, I am going to help them, not you."

"Good." Bella said simply.

He looked her up and down. "You would put their lives before your own."

"Yours too." She admitted.

The honesty in her voice took him aback. He opened his mouth to speak a few times but couldn't seem to find his words. In the end he settled for, "Okay," unable to find more to say he pointed to the treetops. "Your boyfriend is somewhere up there."

Bella looked up searching in the darkness for Edward, but she just couldn't see him. Walking over to her back door she spoke quietly. "I am technically not in the house, you can come speak to me."

She felt the cold breeze hit her skin before she saw him walking next to her.

"I'm sure the chief would not be happy to know you are out here. Let alone conversing with giant wolves." He lightly chastised her.

"Well If you had come to see me I wouldn't have had to come looking for you."

Sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose he said, "I promised your father I wouldn't enter the house."

"You promised me you wouldn't leave me again!" Her voice broke and she took a deep breath trying to get her emotions under control. "I thought you only said that to appease Charlie."

"I didn't leave you. And I think it is best to follow your fathers rules right now. He already has enough reason to hate me. I don't want to give him any more."

"He wouldn't know."

"I would."

She turned her back to him not wanting him to see the tears she was trying to will away.

"Bella love, I won't be far. If you go to sleep now it will seem like no time before you get to see me again."

Before any more arguments could be made loud angry shouts came from the woods.

Edward chuckled. "Paul can't phase back into a wolf." She looked up at him in confusion. "There is no present danger, and Sam is not here to tell him to phase."

"So, Paul's stuck in human form running around naked in the woods?"

"Pretty much. Although he does have shorts, he still hasn't put them on." Edward frowned. "I am not happy with his blatant decision to disrespect you like that."

"If we don't acknowledge it he probably won't do it again."

Edward lifted one brow at her as if to say, 'Are you sure about that?' She just shrugged.

Thank you for reading.