Edward

He and Renesmee took a break from their social studies lesson, deciding to go to Disneyland, favoring interaction with people and learning about the history of the famed amusement park.

For the past twenty minutes, they'd been in a long, serpentine line for the space-themed rollercoaster, and Edward read aloud the description on his phone about their upcoming journey into the cosmos. Nessie elbowed him, leading his attention to the back of a slender woman with long, dark brown hair, wearing a feather boa.

Nessie's voice remained low and neutral. "Is that her?"

Without a second thought, Edward burst from the line, leaving Nessie as he rushed toward the woman, who'd been standing and admiring a stuffed animal inside the gift shop.

"Hey there," he said, adrenaline surging through him in anticipation.

The woman turned and faced him, but her eyes were not a dazzling brown, instead squinty blue and her smile was bigger than her face. "Hi," she said. She was probably in her forties, and Edward's heart sank as he realized this was not his Feather Bella.

Feather Bella…

He'd thought of her everyday but resisted the impulse to call… or contact her. Because, he told himself, if Bella wanted to be reached, she would have contacted him.

Renesmee knew better than to argue with her father. She'd thrown away her vision board and didn't speak to Edward about Bella.

"I'm sorry," Edward said, "I thought you were someone else."

"No, it's okay."

The woman with the feather boa was about to say something else but then Edward apologized for interrupting and told her he had to get back to his daughter. When he turned, he bumped into another woman in the crowded shop who hadn't been paying attention to where she was going, as she was looking at her phone.

"Oh! Excuse me," the woman said, meeting Edward with wide eyes.

Disoriented, Edward, met the surprise on the woman's face. This striking female, with long blonde hair and eyes that were green instead of violet, resembled Rose.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, her brows furrowed. "I'm just distracted. My boyfriend…I think he's cheating on me…and anyway, I'm sorry…"

"Oh…" Edward didn't know what to say. The likeness to his late wife was uncanny, yet her voice had a higher pitch, and she clearly had none of Rose's confidence.

"TMI," she said. "Sorry again…"

"It's okay."

He shook his head and made his way back to Nessie, who couldn't hide the disappointment on her face. "Well, that's too bad."

"Yeah…well, I guess it's just not to be."

Nessie started to say, "But…" but Edward cut her off. "Line's moving," he said, gesturing to her to move forward.

Every time the topic of Bella had come up lately, Edward deflected by offering to take Nessie to the beach or to a show. When they arrived home, Nessie was yawning as they walked through the door. "Daddy, you don't play piano anymore."

"True. I guess I just haven't had the motivation."

"Maybe you can teach me how to play."

He grinned and a burst of pride welled up in his stomach. "Really?"

"Yes. Can we start tomorrow?"

Edward kissed Nessie on the cheek and walked her to her room. "Yes, we'll start tomorrow."

After a few weeks, with piano lessons and practice every day, Edward found a renewed enthusiasm for his music. Nessie had caught on quicker than expected.

Soon, word got out to their neighbors that Edward was teaching his daughter, and it began with another girl close to Nessie's age who wanted to learn…then after a few weeks, a parent would inquire at a supermarket, or someone would show up at their door.

Edward hadn't wanted to charge for the lessons, as he'd genuinely enjoyed it, but the parents insisted on paying him, and over a month later, his evenings consisted of back to back piano lessons.

During one session, when a girl had been practicing her scales, Edward observed as the girl's finger kept going backward instead of forward, and the notes reminded him of the piece he'd abandoned.

After the last of his pupils left for the evening, Nessie said goodnight, and Edward rushed back to the piano. At first, he hadn't planned on sitting and playing. He just thought he might try to work out that first bar, the one where he knew he'd left off…and the girl's mistaken scales stood out in his mind. Standing in front of the keys, he picked it up again, and as his fingers played out the melody from muscle memory, he took a seat at the bench.

He hoped he wasn't disturbing Nessie, but his hands flared with inspiration.

It was past midnight as he finally closed up the lid to the piano, breathed a happy sigh, and went to bed.

Bella

Charlie was doing so much better…and he'd finally stopped asking about Edward. For years, she'd been out of practice with her energy healing, and though her dad thought it was silly at first, Charlie started to notice that when he allowed Bella to work her little energy miracles, he'd felt as though he'd just received a massage, like his cells had been refreshed and his tension seemed to melt away.

She kissed him on the cheek when she was done, and Charlie looked up from the bed at her.

"You know, I think you should start a business doing that."

"Energy healing?"

"Whatever it is. Like I don't know what hoodoo it is you're doing to me, but I know it feels like you've given me back a few years of my life."

Bella smirked. "Thank you, Dad." It was a compliment if she'd ever heard one. Her dad was not prone to false flattery. She knew the power behind what she did, but she didn't expect her father to take to it so well. Or that he would actually see value in it.

"Good night," she said as he yawned. He got up, and she liked that he didn't look so stiff when he walked, that the bags under his eyes were gone, that he had color back in his face. Good nutrition and rest also helped.

"Listen, Bells…I just wanted to say…thank you. I know I was hard on you growing up. And I know that you deserved a better dad than I was…but I admire the woman you've become. And if this jerk Edward doesn't want to be with you, then well, he doesn't deserve you."

She laughed. "Edward wasn't a jerk. It was me. I broke it off with him."

He looked down for a minute. "Oh…well you must've had a good reason, then."

Bella still couldn't say that, but it meant so much to have his support. "Good night, Dad."

"Hey…Billy's coming over tomorrow….and…I was wondering if you could…"

"What? Make that vegan pizza? See? I knew the chickpeas would grow on you."

"No…I mean, I do like the pizza, but would you…uh…do this energy thing on Billy? He says lately that his shoulders have been bothering him now, and he's had to take stronger meds to deal with it."

She smiled. "Of course. If he wants me to, I wouldn't mind at all."

"Thanks, Bells."

The next day, between the two of them, they helped wheel Billy inside Charlie's living room, and he had been pleased to see her, but she couldn't read the intent of why he was there…if he was really there under Charlie's influence or not.

"So, Billy, where would you like to do this? Maybe we can lay you down on the couch."

"Do what?"

Charlie's gaze shifted upward. Apparently this had been a surprise to Billy.

Bella continued, "Uh…well, my dad suggested that I work with you to see if I can help with your pain."

Billy shot Charlie a look of annoyance she'd only seen before when Jacob had been out of line. "I'm fine. Feeling great. I don't know what your dad's talking about. He is getting older."

"Come on, Billy. Bella does this energy thing, and I can't explain it, but I feel the best I have in years."

Billy looked his friend up and down, brows pulled together. "You do look well, but still. I'm fine. I don't need anything."

Bella put her hands up. "Okay, no worries, Billy. If someone isn't receptive, it's not going to help anyway. You have free will."

"Billy," Charlie said. "Just give her a chance. I swear to you I didn't believe in this stuff either, but it can't hurt. If it doesn't work, it's just a few minutes of your time."

Bella looked at her dad and at Billy. "He's right. It won't hurt. And if it doesn't work for you, nothing will be lost."

Billy rubbed his right shoulder thoughtfully. "My grandfather was a healer, but he used salves and tinctures. What is it that you do?"

Bella cleared her throat, hoping that Billy would allow her the opportunity to help him. "I address the energy centers in your body, the life force, and sometimes they become blocked due to environmental factors, or nutrition, and most of the time because of our emotions."

He huffed a sigh. "Okay, fine. But my clothes stay on."

After it was over, she lit a candle and released the stale energy from her arms and feet. Billy and Charlie were in the living room and watching football, sounding like little boys as Bella made lunch.

"See?" Charlie said.

"Yeah. That was…I can't explain it. My elbows and wrists have been bothering me, and my neck, and I haven't felt any sensation in my lower extremities in years. Now, I feel this tingling in my toes."

Bella rolled out the dough, smiling to herself. This had been one of her passions—healing, but she'd only delved into it just before the videos had taken off. She imagined that with a lot more of her "therapy" where he could take that receptive energy, maybe make a few lifestyle changes, then he might actually get more feeling in his legs…and maybe one day he would walk again. But she didn't like to get ahead of herself.

Over the next few weeks, that was what happened, and as word got around on the res, it spread through Forks as well. She had not wanted to take any money but people gave it to her, insisting that she was helping them more than any of their medicines had in years.

A couple of months later, Charlie looked as youthful as he ever had, and he was stirring something in a pot.

"You cooking?" Bella asked as she lugged some groceries into the small kitchen.

"Chili." She shot him a look. "Okay, I'm using turkey instead of beef. You happy?"

"I'm very happy, Dad. You are doing so much better."

They'd done another scan of his liver and found it healed, the cancer in remission, and Dr. Cullen declared it a miracle. His heart was as healthy and strong as ever.

She started putting things away in the cupboards and he pointed to a package she was about to put in the refrigerator.

"What's that?" He asked.

"It's a portabella mushroom," she said.

He frowned, and she smiled. "They're high in protein, in vitamin a..and they're an excellent meat substitute."

He set down his wooden spoon. "Uh huh…listen, Bells, I was hoping we could talk about something…"

"Dad, I'm not saying you should give up meat altogether…but…"

"No, no, listen. It's just that I think it's time for you to go back to your place."

"What?"

"It's just that as much as I've enjoyed having you here, you have your own life to live. You are a grown woman, and you have your own home, that I've never even seen, by the way. And you have a talent for healing. You've changed me, Bella, and there's still a lot of good that you can give to others…who need it."

Her feet stayed planted to the tile floor. "You're kicking me out."

"No…I mean, I think you accomplished what you set out to do. Now, it's time for you to go back to your own life."

She'd been thinking about it. Besides, she'd grown tired of picking up after her dad, not that she minded taking care of him, but he was doing better than she'd ever seen him.

"Okay. But first I'm going to cook you the best mushroom ravioli you've ever had, okay?"

He smiled then. "Deal."

A few days later, she gathered her suitcase, belongings and her crystals, but left a protection stone on her dad's nightstand. She made him promise that he would leave it there. Charlie drove his pickup truck behind Bella to her home in Newport, and she showed him around, lifting sheets off the furniture, and realizing how much dust had collected in the past 3 months.

"What's all this?" he asked, pointing to the room she used as her recording studio.

"Oh..remember I told you that I made videos?"

"That's right. So, I guess you can just pick up where you left off."

She tilted her head. "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that."

"Well, you could always transform it into your…"—he held up fingers for air quotes—"energy healing" room. Yeah, I can picture it. Put up all your little hoodoo candles and whatnot."

"Dad, hoodoo is…" She stopped herself. Charlie didn't care. Besides, what a transformation her father had made. He'd given her a full dose of his skepticism and traded it with a mild tolerance for the metaphysical. "Nevermind."

"You're gonna do great."

Wow. This was the first time her dad ever offered her such encouraging words. "Thanks, Dad."

She waved goodbye as he drove away, wishing him light and a whisper for a safe trip.

"I love you, Dad," she said, knowing that he knew without having to hear it.

When Bella finished uncovering and dusting all the furniture, she looked around. Springtime was a time for growth, and the days were getting longer. The sand felt cool against her skin as she walked along the beach at sunset. She hadn't realized how much she missed this— the pulsing energy from the water, the healing resonance of the waves…how the salty air even charged her with renewal.

Finding nothing but condiments inside her fridge, she planned to get to the store the next day to buy food and other things.

This was the beginning of a new life for her. Starting over and reinventing herself. Who was Bella Swan today? Who did she want to be? Taking care of her dad had given her a whole new perspective and new respect for herself. In her heart, she was a healer, and her purpose had been freshly restored.

A/N: Looks like they're both growing…but does this mean they're growing apart? You'll have to stay with me. I'll be back on a more consistent schedule, thanks to my beta and to having some time to focus! So, so many thanks to my wonderful beta, EdwardsFirstKiss for her help and input. Many thanks as well to my peeps who review and leave feedback. I will let you know when the next one's coming. I appreciate you all, and thanks to everyone for reading!