Disclaimer: All things recognisable are the property of SM.

Chapter Seven: Creating New Family Ties: P7

"An eternal memory…until we meet again. Those special memories will always bring a smile if only I could have you back for just a little while. Then we could sit and talk again just like we used to, you always meant so very much and always will do too. The fact that you're no longer here will always cause me pain, but you're forever in my heart until we meet again." - Unknown

Charlie's Pov

I find myself reminiscing on days gone by when I was ignorant of what real life is like, If someone had told me 20 years ago that the supernatural world existed, and that I'd play a major role in that world I would have laughed & locked them up in the loony bin.

"I was born and raised in Fork's, Washington by my parents, Geoffrey & Helen Swan. My dad Geoffrey and mum Helen were both in their mid-forties when I was born; they had thought they were unable to have children, so I was a huge, but very welcome, surprise. I remained an only child and stayed close to both my parents. Billy Black, Harry Clearwater and Quil Ateara IV have been my close friends since childhood.

Even though I grew up hearing the Quileute legends with my friends Billy, Quil & Harry, it's one thing to be told a story & think it's just a story but then to be told that they are all true it's quite a shock. I never thought when Renee told me that she was pregnant after we got married that my life would end up with us divorced, her in jail & our baby girl fighting to find her place in this world.

I'll never regret meeting & marrying Renee because it gave me my daughter Isabella. When Renee left & took Bella with her it tore me apart knowing that I couldn't follow them as I was needed in Forks to look after my parents who had become ill not long after Bella's 1st birthday, 3 months after Renee left my parents passed away peacefully in their sleep.

But, by then it was too late to save my marriage with Renee, so we decided to divorce. When I received a phone call several years later while on my way to Renee's house for my annual visit with Bella informing me that Renee's boyfriend had tried to kidnap & rape Bella, Peter introduced himself while also promising that Bella was safe at the hospital with a broken arm but that he had stopped the attack before it could go any further.

I thanked him, then told him that I wasn't far from the hospital & that I would be there soon while I was driving Peter filled me in about everything that had been happening with Renee & Bella. By the time I got there, Bella had been seen & her arm had been put in a cast. I was sitting with Bella, Peter & Charlotte talking when Renee turned up 2 hours late & shit-faced drunk demanding to see Bella.

I didn't think that was a good idea based on what Peter had told me so while Peter & Charlotte sat with Bella I drove to the local courthouse to try & get an order in place that transferred Bella into my care but before I could get the court order Renee had grabbed Bella & disappeared. Peter promised that he & Charlotte wouldn't stop looking for her & would keep me in the loop with their search.

So, with nothing else I could do I travelled back to Forks, to be with friends while waiting for any news on Bella & Renee, several years passed before I received the phone call I was waiting for Peter called to tell me that they had found Renee & Bella. Peter & Charlotte had found them living in Phoenix, Arizona with Renee's new husband Phil, by then Bella had recently turned seventeen. Bella called a month later asking if she could move to live with me, I of course said yes.

When the Cullen Coven moved to Forks I knew exactly what they were thanks to Peter & Char, when Bella asked to live with me I never thought that I'd need to worry about Bella becoming intertwined with the coven or with that prick Edwin. When they left a few days after Bella's eighteenth birthday I prayed that her involvement with vampires would end there, but of course, I wasn't aware of Bella's entanglement with a group of nomads during her spring break ending with her in the hospital with severe injuries.

When Bella became involved with the Quileute shape-shifters I was so sure that she would end up being one of their mates but that didn't end up being the case, I then knew that her future would be as a vampire with her mate & coven. The day Harry passed away from a heart attack after witnessing his children phasing for the first time, I went home walking in on Bella, Alice & Jasper talking in the lounge of course I overreacted upon seeing them in my house but Bella explained that they came back for her & to apologise.

Jacob turned up before the three of them could leave for Italy, I knew that I would have to send Bella off with Alice & Jasper with instructions to call me when she got a moment after arriving & meeting the Kings. After watching my little girl drive off with Alice & Jasper on their way to the airport, I headed back down to La Push for Harry's funeral & the celebration of life afterparty.

I have never wished harder than I have to be able to turn back the clock to get back the years I lost with Bella, to go back to the days when she'd spend our evenings sitting on my lap looking at me like I was all she needed to be whole & happy, begging for more stories about wolves & fairytales but I realise everything happens for a reason. That she's meant for bigger & better things."

A/N: Sorry it's been so long RL got in the way & I was suffering from bad writer's block. This is just a filler chapter. The chapter will be the Cullen's reunion & reaction. Please R & R.