Chapter Text
Bella POV
It was raining.
It was always raining from what I remember of Forks. It was always a dreary place, but for some reason Charlie loved it here. I drove the semi-familiar roads through town towards the hospital, my fingers tapping restlessly against the steering wheel of my truck. I’d been driving for hours and was ready to be at the hospital, ready to see Charlie. I’d been praying to any deity that might listen that he was alright. I wasn’t sure I could take another loss like my mom and Phil.
I’d gotten a call from the hospital saying he was seriously injured while on the job. Thankfully, I’d been living in Seattle since my discharge from the Army, having planned to spend time with Charlie since I hadn’t had a lot of time with him over the last few years, so the drive only took me 4 hours, but that was still 4 hours of fretting about his condition.
My mind wandered back to when I was 16 and life was still good. I graduated from high school at 16, mom had been so proud of me. Not long after she ended up marrying Phil, he was a really cool guy, a bit young for my mom, but still cool. They had planned to skip the whole honeymoon thing, but I’d insisted that they go, telling them I’d be ok on my own for a little while.
That’s where things went wrong.
On the way to the airport, they were hit by a truck that ran a red light, killing mom instantly. Phil had held on for a few days, but he ended up passing away as well leaving me all alone. Charlie came down from Forks to help me with the funeral and everything else that needed to be handled. I was grateful for his presence as I was barely keeping myself together. My 17th birthday was only a month away and I had felt like I’d lost everything.
The morning after the funeral, I decided it all had to go. I packed a small box of things I couldn’t live without, the first book my mother gave me, a photo of her and Phil, the quilt my mother had made for me, and a few other things. The rest I sold or donated and put all the money from their estates and the sales into a savings account. On the day of my 17th birthday, I went to the Army recruiter and signed the paperwork for me to join the Army. I forged Charlie’s signature, which he wasn’t happy about and he tried to talk me out of it when he found out, but I needed to get away, I needed to go as far away from Phoenix as I could, and this was the only way I could think of doing it, so he agreed.
I spent a 4-year tour in the Army and had signed up for a second but was discharged a year into it having gotten injured by a stray bullet while I was patching a soldier during a firefight. When I tried to go back, they claimed my mental state was too unstable to return to active duty. So, instead I’d been working to complete my nurses training, and had just finished certification and looking for a job.
Pulling into the hospital parking lot, I threw the truck into park and leapt from the vehicle, running inside and up to the nurse’s counter my heart pounding in my chest. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Charlie Swan’s room.”
The nurse gave her a sympathetic look as she stood. “You must be Bella? I’m so sorry, Chief Swan passed about an hour ago.”
I backed away slowly, my mind racing. Charlie was dead, mom was dead, Phil was dead, I really was all alone now. Turning, I headed back out into the rain and to my truck standing by the vehicle as the rain soaked into my hair and clothes. Charlie was dead. I had wanted to make up for lost time, I thought we’d have time to spend together, but now it was gone. Anger and grief filled my chest till I thought I’d explode with it. Without thinking I punched the bed of my truck over and over, shouting at the rain.
It wasn’t fair.
Pain lanced up my arm from my now mangled hand and a slew of curses spewed from my mouth as I shook it trying to ease the pain. I knew I’d likely fractured something, but I had no intention of going back into the hospital so instead, I climbed into my truck and headed to Charlie’s house. I managed to hold myself together until I parked in the driveway of the old white house that I knew was Charlie’s, and the flood gates opened. Leaning over the steering wheel I cried. I cried for the father I’d lost; I cried that I’d never get to tell him how sorry I was for ignoring him all these years, how much I loved him, what he meant to me. I cried until my throat hurt and my tears ran dry.
When I couldn’t cry any longer, I ran a hand over my face to wipe away the errant tears, fixed my slightly frizzed out hair from the rain and headed up to the porch of Charlie’s house. I knew where he kept the hide away key, so I let myself in. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia as I entered the house. Everything looked exactly like I remembered it from the last time I’d visited Charlie, which seemed like a lifetime ago. As I moved through the house, my shoes echoed loudly on the hardwood floor, reminding me that the house was empty, and would remain that way.
Taking a deep breath, I told myself not to start crying again, as I headed upstairs to the bathroom and inspected my hand. I’d done a number on it and would likely need to have it looked at by a doctor, which I didn’t relish the idea. Bandaging it up, I decided to wait a day and see how it healed first. Sure, it went against my medical training, but I’d just lost my father, I figured I could use a break from hospitals for a day. Besides, I knew it wasn’t that bad, just some minor fractures that would need a soft cast for a couple of weeks then I’d be right as rain again.
For now, I just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep, so heading to my room, I laid down and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to go through all the paperwork again of losing a parent, planning the funeral, and everything else that I’d have to do. It all just felt overwhelming at the moment. Rolling onto my side, I let myself drift for a while until I fell asleep.
I dreamed, as I normally do, of my time in Afghanistan, helicopters flying over, the unbearable heat of the desert, the various firefights I’d been forced to endure while patching up some kid my age that was bleeding out. When I woke, I was covered in a layer of sweat, gasping for breath as I bolted up right. It took me a few minutes to remember where I was and what happened. Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair and climbed out of bed. Heading to my truck, I pulled out my suitcase and brought it inside and took a shower, letting the hot water burn away my nightmares. Once I’d finished in the shower and got changed, I went into Charlie’s room and started searching for any paperwork I might need now that he was gone.
I spent my day going through his things, pulling out the deed to the house, his will, and bank statements and anything else I could find so when I got the death certificate, I could start making calls to close out Charlie’s affairs. During my rifling, I found Charlie’s old revolver that he kept in his room locked away. It was a collectable, and I wasn’t even sure if the thing still fired, but I had one way of finding out. Grabbing it and the bullets in the box, I headed out to the back yard and into the woods behind his house. Walking until I found a clearing, I loaded the gun with a single bullet and pointed it out over the clearing and fired.
Bam.
It worked.
Loading another bullet into the chamber, I spun the chamber. Slowly, I brought the barrel up to my temple, my hand oddly steady as I held the gun to my own head. Pulling the trigger, the gun clicked.
I was still alive.
Sighing, I lowered the revolver. Guess that meant fate had plans for me still. Heading back to the house, I spent the rest of the day lazing around and nursing my injured hand trying to come up with any reason I could not go back to the hospital to get it looked at. Sadly, come Wednesday morning, I’d come up empty handed so I drug myself back to the hospital and checked myself into the ER to wait for an x-ray. Dr. Jefferies was the one to see me, and order the x-ray, he, and everyone in the hospital, offered me their condolences as they passed once it got out what my last name was.
Somehow, I managed not to cry the entire visit, though it came close a few times as people told me stories of my father, and once my hand was wrapped in a soft cast, I headed for the exit when a flash of blonde caught my eye. Turning, I saw the most beautiful looking man I’d ever seen standing down the hall from me. He was reading over a patient’s chart while talking to a nurse about the patient’s treatment, his chiseled features looking like they were carved from marble, his blonde hair perfectly manicured and pulled back from his face, and those strange golden colored eyes that drew me in. Even from this distance, I could estimate him to be over 6 foot tall, and the scrubs he was wearing fit him like a glove.
His gaze connected with mine and I felt an electric charge run through my whole body. He smiled at me, and I felt my cheeks heat up from being caught ogling him and I quickly rushed out of the hospital. Once I was safe in my truck, I took a deep breath fanning myself. What the hell was that? I’d never had a reaction like that to anyone, that charged feeling had left me tingling all over and I was tempted to run back to him and leap into his arms. Shaking my head, I headed back to Charlie’s place trying to put the hot doctor out of my mind for now. I had more important things to deal with.
By Saturday I’d managed to put together a funeral for Charlie at the local funeral home and to my surprise, the whole town showed up to say their goodbyes to their chief of police. I told myself I wouldn’t cry during the funeral and for nearly an hour I managed to keep my eyes dry. That was until Billy Black, Henry Clearwater and Jacob Black showed up. I knew they were close friends of Charlie’s, and I wasn’t sure how they would take the whole, having been absent from his life for the past 5 years. As they approached, I felt my throat clenched as I tried to breathe slowly and smiled at them.
“Billy, Henry, Jacob, thank you for coming.” I said pleasantly.
Henry grunted with a nod while Billy bowed his head slightly. “Bella, see it took him dying to finally get you here.”
I flinched slightly. “I meant to visit, I just got busy with the Army.”
“Hm, busy.” Henry mumbled, as he made his way past me and into the main room with everyone else.
Billy followed, leaving Jacob standing there with me. “Sorry about them, they’re taking this kind of hard.” Jacob told me with an apologetic look.
“Are you angry at me too?” I asked nervously.
Jacob shook his head. “No, I get it, you lost your mom and stepdad. You had to do what you needed to, to deal with it. When my mom died, I had to figure out how to deal with it and it wasn’t easy. So, if you need anything, I hope you’ll call me. I’ll be your friend.”
Tears started to flow down my face at his words, and he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me in for a tight hug. He held me as I cried, rubbing my back and whispering encouraging words to me until I slowly calmed down. Pulling away from him, I grabbed a tissue and wiped my eyes.
“Sorry, I just feel so guilty that I ignored him for all those years. I really did mean to visit, but after mom and Phil, I just needed to get away and work was the only thing that distracted me. When I got discharged, I thought I had all this time to make up with him and now he’s gone, and I don’t know what to do.” I sniffled, Jacob leading me over to some chairs to sit down.
“I wish I could tell you what to do, but I don’t know the answer to that either. I guess just take it one step at a time. If you need any help clearing out stuff from the house just let me know and I’ll be there.” Jacob rubbed my shoulders.
“Even if your dad hates me?”
Jacob laughed. “Yeah, even if he hates you. You’re my friend and always will be.”
Smiling, I took his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you, Jacob. I really needed a friend right now.”
He gave me a cheeky grin. “Anytime.”
We sat there for nearly an hour chatting before Billy and Henry came by stating they were leaving. Jacob gave her a tight hug and followed his father out leaving her alone again. It was nearing the end of the funeral and people were leaving when two teenagers walked in and came up to her. The girl was petite with short brown hair and the same golden eyes as the hot doctor had, and was hanging on the arm on what I assume was her boyfriend, who was tall, thin, with curly dirty blonde hair and again, the same eye color. Maybe it was a family trait they shared, or some kind of ailment, either way it was odd.
“Hi Bella.” The girl smiled at me; though, how she knew my name I wasn’t sure. I knew people talked but would the Fork’s teens know me just because of my dad? “I’m sorry about your dad, he was friends with our dad and talked about you a lot. I’m Alice and this is Jasper. If you need anything, just let us know, our dad would be happy to help. He wanted to come himself, but he was stuck at the hospital.”
Nodding I gave them my best smile. “Thanks, I’ll let you know.”
I’d heard that a lot today, but only really believed Jacob when he’d said he’d be there for me. The rest of these people didn’t know me, and we’re just saying it to be nice. It both infuriated and belittled me, like I didn’t know what they were doing. Wanting to be done with today I motioned to the empty platters.
“I need to clean up so, if you'll excuse me.”
Alice brightened, her smile going even wider than before. “We can help, right Jasper?”
The teen nodded. “Right.”
Without waiting for me, Alice ran past me and started to clean up with Jasper following suit, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else right now. I stood there for a moment, mouth open in shock as they worked on cleaning up and when Alice smiled and waved me over, I finally shrugged and joined them. Alice’s chipper demeanor was infectious, and I found myself smiling as the girl talked to me about their family and how they were new to the area and how Charlie had been so welcoming to them. It warmed my heart to think Charlie like that; he’d always taken his job as Chief of police seriously and cared a great deal for his community.
It was nice to know it made a difference in someone’s life.
They continued to chat even after everything was cleared and put away, Alice eventually asking about my life and I told them about my time in the Army which seemed to pique Jasper’s interest as he joined in more in the conversation about the war. We debated it for nearly an hour before the funeral director finally asked us to vacate as they had to prepare for another viewing. Together we headed out to the parking lot and exchanged phone numbers with the promise to keep in touch.
Despite our age gap, I’d quite enjoyed our time together and was looking forward to the next time I would get to see them. Heading back to Charlie’s place I grabbed my laptop and plopped down in Charlie’s recliner, it was my favorite seat now as it made me feel close to him. Popping open my laptop I had barely finished pulling up Google before my phone dinged.
It was Alice.
Strange, I thought to myself, what could she be texting about already.
Opening the text, it was a link to an RN job listing at the Forks General hospital that had been posted yesterday. Odd. Then again, I had mentioned I was a combat medic during our conversation and that I was looking for a job, maybe her dad had told her about the position, and she thought to send it to me. It still seemed odd at the timing of it all, but I shook it off. I was just being paranoid, and it had been a stressful day. Pulling up the job posting I quickly applied and sent in my resume before closing my laptop.
I fixed myself a sandwich then took a bath to help relax. My hand was doing better but still a bit tender, hopefully it didn’t get in the way of me getting the RN position. Maybe I could have Alice and Jasper have their father put in a good word for me at the hospital. Shaking my head I sighed sinking further into the hot water, I didn’t need to rely on others to get the job, I could get it on my own.
That’s how I’d always done things anyway.
Two weeks passed before the job posting finally closed and I started to hope for a response. In that time, I’d been working on getting the title to the house changed over to my name, closing out Charlie’s accounts and signing everything the lawyers needed me to so I could inherit everything he’d left me, which was everything. Most of his clothes and other stuff I didn’t want to keep I boxed up and either putting into storage or donated.
Most of it I did alone, but when it came to some of the heavier stuff, I called Jacob, and he happily came to help me move things around until I got the house the way I wanted it. Guilt compelled me to stay in Forks, so even if I didn’t get the job at the hospital, I’d find something else to do, but I wanted to spend time here where Charlie lived and died. It had been important to him, and I wanted to feel connected to him even if he was gone.
It was the last Monday of March, my music was playing out of the speakers of my laptop as I cleaned the house, and I heard the sound I’d been waiting for. I got an email notification. Practically jumping over the couch, which almost landed me face first into the ground, I grabbed my laptop and opened the email. They wanted me to come in on Wednesday for an interview. I leapt from the couch with a cheer. Now I just had to nail this interview and I’d be set. Heading upstairs, I quickly ran through my outfits but wasn’t sure what to wear for the interview.
I was hopeless when it came to style, but I wasn’t sure who to turn to. Then it hit me, I knew someone that was a fashionista even if I’d only talked to her for an hour or two. Pulling out my phone I nibbled my lower lip, was it weird to ask an 18-year-old’s advice on clothing? Typing the message into my phone I sent it before I could back out. Within a minute I had an enthusiastic response back saying she’d love to help and could even bring her sister and aunt over to help. I wanted to say no to the extra help, but something deep down said I wasn’t going to win this fight, so I backed down and let Alice have this one.
I should have fought back.
When the three women showed up, not only were they all beautiful, but they came with bags of clothing for her to try on. Rosalie was a tall blonde beauty that looked like a runway model and then there was Esme who looked a few years older than me but no less beautiful than the other two. Esme had lovely brownish, auburn hair and a kind smile. The woman hugged me as soon as we were introduced, and I felt an immediate connection to the woman. It didn’t escape my notice, however, that all three had the same color eyes, and pale skin. Alice had told me that they were technically foster kids, but that didn’t explain why they had similar physical traits.
Unless it really was some kind of rare disease that I’d never heard of, but that seemed unlikely. Shrugging it off, for now, I focused on the task at hand. Over the next hour or two the girls had me try on a variety of different blouses and skirts, or pants, or dresses until we decided on a blue blouse with a dark grey blazer, and a pencil skirt. Alice was insistent on heels, but I nixed that knowing my clumsy self and reminded her I was already injured and didn’t need another injury.
Esme gave me all sorts of advice on what to do during the interview and I soaked up the information. It was the first interview I’d ever been to, so I was a bit nervous, but she assured me that I’d do just fine. She even let me practice with her while Alice and Rose fussed over my hair and how I should style it. I wasn’t one for doing girly things, but it was kind of fun having the girls there and having them help me prepare for the interview.
By the time Wednesday came, I felt prepared. I had done my hair up like Rose showed me, my nails were manicured, thanks to Alice, and Esme had been practicing interview questions with me over the last few days, so I felt ready. The interview went smoothly, and I was even offered the job there on the spot, which after going over a few details like pay and benefits, I agreed to the job. I was so ecstatic that I was practically running out of the hospital, pulling out my phone to text the girls that I’d gotten the job. As I turned the corner, my foot caught on the ground, and I stumbled forward with a yelp.
I braced to hit the ground but instead, there was an oof sound and I felt and arm supporting my back. Cracking my eyes open, I nearly fainted. I was currently sprawling across the lap of the hot doctor I’d seen when I got my hand cast, and he was holding me staring down at me with a confused and amused expression. I could feel my face lighting up like a Christmas tree as I stared up at that gorgeous face of his, my mouth hanging open, an apology on the tip of my tongue but not coming out of my lips.
What the hell should I do now?