“Well, I was missing you, Bells,” Charlie admitted, his cheeks turning a familiar red.  “I got to thinking about you going off to college all the way across the country.  And you getting married just as young as your mom and me.”  If it was possible, his blush deepened.  “I was thinking about how maybe I was losing you before I was ready.”  He shuffled his feet guiltily and stared down at the carpet. I felt a lump forming in my throat in spite of the situation.

“And he was missing your cooking,” Billy interrupted.  “By the time I got over here, he was down to two TV dinners.”

Charlie snorted.  “Anyway, Billy came down and invited me out for a couple burgers and some fishing with the…” he glanced over hesitantly at the enormous adolescents that lined the back wall, not knowing anymore exactly what to call them…”boys on the beach.”  He flinched as he said it. 

“Actually Billy kind of just showed up and kidnapped him,” Seth contributed.  Billy nodded proudly.

“I went willing enough,” Charlie protested. 

 “And?”  I prompted, sighing impatiently.  Charlie had never been prone to large speeches, but once he finally had a good story to tell, he could spin it out for weeks…and finding werewolves next door was probably the best story he figured he was ever going to have.  If I didn’t push him, Edward would be back before I found out what happened.  Charlie read the annoyance in my expression and continued without elaboration.

“Me and Sam were on grill duty and we were just putting the first burgers on when this woman steps out of the tree line, and all of the sudden, I’m surrounded by wolves the size of horses.”  He stopped, turning back towards the four boys and examining them again as if expecting them to phase at any moment.  I recognized the sentiment…had, in fact, spent my first two weeks with the pack in the same state.

“They were all growling and foaming at the mouth, and there were little pieces of their clothes floating down around us like snow.  I looked around and there were only a handful of us…humans…still standing around while something like twenty wolves all took off toward the girl.”

“Ten,” interjected Quil offhandedly. “And we don’t foam at the mouth.  We were probably just frothing because the bl…”

“What happened to the woman?”  I interrupted and shot what I hoped was a meaningful glare at Quil.  If the word bloodsucker left his mouth, I was planning to lunge at his throat, werewolf or not.  That was all that Charlie needed today—to add an ongoing war between werewolves and vampires to his weekly list of crimes and misdemeanors.

 Charlie gave a mocking grunt.  “What would you do if all of the sudden you had ten werewolves after you?”  he replied.  “She ran for it.  At least, I think she did.  I didn’t see her run.  The wolves got in the way.  They all flew after her into the trees.  I thought they were going to kill her.”

His face was lined in frustration, and it suddenly occurred to me just how improbable it was that my father would stand immobile while a pack of wolves descended on what he thought was a helpless citizen. Charlie had twenty years of police experience which had reduced his reaction time to just about nothing, whether he was dealing with a convenient store robbery or a pack of supersized werewolves.  

“What did you do?”  I asked, unable to hide the concern in my voice.  I was picturing Charlie jumping onto the back of one of them before he even realized what he was doing and ending up much worse off than Emily.

But Billy was laughing.

“He turned around and tried to wheel me up the beach with him,” he snickered.  “But my wheels got stuck in the sand, so he grabbed Sue in one arm and tried to pull me out of the seat with the other.  You should have seen it, Bella!  He was swearing up a storm, calling me a stubborn old bastard and trying to convince me that my own boys would turn me into dinner if I didn’t stop fighting with him.  He just about broke my arm!  Sue would’ve been on the floor laughing if she hadn’t been so worried about the kids.”

Charlie wasn’t laughing.  He looked bitter.  “What else could I do?”  He replied curtly.  “My gun was at the house, and all the wolves had disappeared into the water before I even got turned around to watch them go, so I couldn’t chase them.  My best bet was to book it to Billy’s and call for backup.” He scowled over at his friend, who was still chortling.  “Besides, I was trying to save your sorry butt from a pack of blood thirsty wolves.  You should’ve told me sooner and saved yourself the shoulder pain.”

A general chuckle rotated around the room.  Convinced that my father had never been in danger, I turned back to my hidden agenda.

“So the girl got away OK?”  I was looking straight at Sam, thinking that he would be the most tactful of the four.  He stared back at me, brooding.  It dawned on me then that Sam had been remarkably silent throughout the entire exchange.  I stared into his eyes, and my vague concern became worry.  Sam was furious.

Seth took up the thread, rolling his eyes.  “Of course she did,” he replied.  “She surprised us, sure.  We had no idea that she was there, but we wouldn’t hurt any humans, Bella.  You know that.”

 Seth’s smile seemed sincere enough to convince Charlie, but the uncomfortable look that passed around the room from wolf to wolf did nothing to put my mind at ease.  The words no idea echoed in my head.  Werewolves had excellent scent, and a vampire didn’t exactly smell like roses to them.  Jacob had described it once to me as something so sweet that it hurt.  He had often complained that when the wind was just right, the Cullens could foul the air all the way down the coastline.  I’d walked away from him at that point and made him chase me down the beach, but the point was the wolves should have been able to detect Irina’s entry into their territory at least a mile before she did it.

How was she able to sneak up on an entire pack of creatures who were custom built only to kill vampires?  I glanced over at Charlie, who was staring at Sam again with the same expectant expression and was convinced that I would not have that question answered tonight—not with Judge Charlie VanHelsing presiding.

“Dad?”  I pushed.  My instincts told me to keep him talking, even if he couldn’t give me the answers I needed.  He couldn’t be angry if he was still telling the story.  “Was anyone hurt?”

“I…uh...no one reported any injuries,” he mumbled.  His gaze had switched to Seth now. 

“Well, there were about a dozen perfectly good burgers that we weren’t able to save,” answered Quil. “But other than that, nothing more than the usual.  I lost my favorite shirt.”

Charlie’s eyes shifted to Quil and he shook his head. 

“Must have been a big chase though,” he mused.  “They made it to the ocean.  Billy was trying to explain it all to me when all the boys came out of the waves, just as human as ever and looking all guilty like I was going to arrest them.  They were naked as jaybirds!”  He stopped as if suddenly realizing that this was perhaps not the best information to share with his eighteen year old daughter.  “Sue got into her big bag and pulled out a few changes of clothes.  Emily had a couple more, and she swam an extra swim suit out to Leah so she wouldn’t have to get out with the rest of them, and then they all started cleaning things up like it was nothing more than a rogue rainstorm that ruined the barbecue.”

He sat in silence for a moment letting everything sink in.  “I kept waiting for a wild animal report at the station, but nothing’s come in yet.” 

Then his expression turned accusing.  “How long have you known?” 

I sighed.  This was the anger I had been worried about.  I searched around for another question to distract him, but the rest of mine all involved vampires.

“A while,” I admitted resignedly, hoping that he didn’t persist.  That time in my life had not been one that I particularly wished to remember.  He seemed to sense that by my expression.

“What I want to know is, did you know they were wolves when all those campers were going missing a while back?” 

I flinched.  I’d been convinced that Jacob and his new friends had been responsible for those murders.  It seemed only natural that my father, the cop, would be drawn back to that same conclusion.

“They weren’t the ones that…” I began, but Charlie held out a hand to stop me.

“I know that,” he assured me.  “That was the first thing I asked about when…well, when I was finally convinced I wasn’t nuts.  They said they didn’t have anything to do with it and I guess I believe them.  But you should have told me.  I was out hunting wolves.  I could have shot my best friend’s son!”

Quil snickered.  “Lot of damage that would have done,” he mumbled almost under his breath.  Charlie looked up at Sam, puzzled.  Sam said nothing.

“We’re pretty bulletproof,” Seth explained.  He was strangely tense now.  They all were.

Charlie shook his head in disbelief.  “Great.”

“Well, not completely bulletproof…” Seth began again, but Charlie cut him off.

“I think that’s about all I can handle tonight Seth, thanks.” 

He stared off into nothing for a while.  I could see the gears in his head grinding, no doubt wondering how his teenage daughter could somehow manage to find something straight out of a horror movie in the two short years that she’d been here when he had spent his entire adult life in Forks and found nothing worse than a hunting accident. 

He had no idea.

I looked around the room as I waited for him to find more words.  Four figures stared back at me anxiously, making the living room seem even smaller than it actually was.  They sensed something that they didn’t like.  I wondered suddenly where the other wolves were tonight.

“ No wonder you all didn’t want to go see doctor Cullen in town,”  Charlie finally said, and the mention of my new last name—even if it was not in the context I had feared—made me jump a little.  No one noticed.  Not even the wolves. 

What was distracting them?

“I suppose that it wouldn’t be too easy to hide things like blood tests and…”  He trailed off as he remembered Jacob’s “motorcycle accident” only months ago.  “Wait...” he said as the gears turned…screeched…grinded away.  “Dr. Cullen was taking care of Jacob that whole time he wrecked on his...but wait. If bullets can’t even hurt you, how could a little spill on a motorcycle…” 

His words trailed off.  Billy was staring at him wide eyed now, remembering the screams of his son as Dr. Cullen rebroke bones that had healed badly in less than a half an hour.  He hadn’t expected to have to come up with something more than a motorcycle accident.  Charlie was quicker than they’d all given him credit for.

“Well, it was bigger than just a little spill,” Seth muttered without looking around.  Charlie stared at him suspiciously.  There was a knock at the door then that made him jump so he did not see the relief that washed over Seth’s face as he shot up.

Of course.  Edward.  That was why the wolves were tense.

“That’ll be Edward.  I’ll get it!” Seth said cheerfully. 

Charlie’s eyes flicked to me.  “Does he know too?”

I heard Seth greet Edward cheerfully in the entryway.  Heard Edward answer something in Seth’s thoughts.

“Yeah, dad.”

“Does his father?”

“Naturally, Charlie.”  Edward’s voice, velvet and light-hearted, rang through the tension as he wrapped an arm around me and kissed me lightly on the forehead.  “You can’t treat a bulletproof boy without discovering a thing or two.”

Once again, the jovial tone fooled Charlie, but not me.  Edward’s eyes were strained, and he was putting more effort than usual into avoiding mine.  He was worried about something.  The wolves could tell too, and they tensed again accordingly.  Luckily, Charlie seemed to have reached his breaking point for the night.  He stood up and graced Edward with the same glare that we had been receiving all night before moving toward the door.

“That’s it.  I can’t take anything more today,” he insisted, ushering Seth and Sam toward the door with one hand, and clamping the other firmly onto my shoulder.  “This whole town’s full of werewolves.  The town doctor knows how to treat them, and my only daughter has been hanging around with them since she got here.  What’s next?” 

He turned to Edward, his voice sarcastic.  “Are you going to tell me that you’re a werewolf too?”

Edward’s eyebrows raised in amusement.  He barely hid the laughter that threatened to destroy his game face as he stared as earnestly as possible back at Charlie. 

“No, sir.  I am most definitely not a werewolf.”

Charlie stared back at him for as long as he could handle.  I had to give him credit.  Not many people had the ability to stare down a vampire.  The wolves all found spots on the ceiling to admire.  After a minute, Charlie seemed satisfied.      

“That’s it,” he sighed.  He was exhausted.  “I need another night to let this sink in.  You all go…kill sheep, or whatever you do at night.”  His hand tightened around my shoulder.  “Bells, Edward, you stay please.  I need to talk to you.”   

The wolves mumbled half hearted goodbyes to me and Charlie and stared Edward down as they shuffled out the door.  Edward nodded subtly from his guarded position in the entryway, his face grave.  I looked up at him expectantly.  He couldn’t possibly think that I hadn’t noticed that exchange.

He didn’t, but he shook his head almost unnoticeably and stared as pleasantly as possible back at Charlie whose hand was now a talon on my shoulder.

“Look, I know that this sounds a little crazy,” and he was looking at us now as if he was no longer a stranger to crazy.  “And I know you’ve made other arrangements, but I was hoping that you two would maybe like to stay here tonight.”  He made an enormous effort to meet Edward’s eyes.  “I know I don’t have anything to worry about, but I’d sleep better tonight if I knew that Bella was safe in her room.”

It  seemed strange—my father asking my husband for permission to have his daughter sleep over.  Edward managed a smile and looked questioningly down at me.

“I got a bigger bed for the two of you,” Charlie added quickly.  “Well, Sue picked it out for me.  You know how I am with shopping.”

My throat suddenly constricted as I realized just how large of a gesture that was on Charlie’s part. 

"Sure, dad,” I gulped.  How could I refuse?

“I’ll get the luggage from the car,” Edward said.  I followed him quickly out the door.  When we were out of earshot in the cool night air, I unleashed my barrage of questions.

“Edward, what’s going on?  Why did Irina come now, and what was she doing down by LaPush?  She knows where you live!”

Edward’s eyes closed suddenly and he pinched the bridge of his nose with the fingers of his left hand.  He looked like he was in pain. 

“I’m well aware of the treaty, Sam,” he whispered into the darkness, answering thoughts with words.  I imagined a line of furious wolves just beyond my line of sight.  “I could respond more efficiently if you weren’t all insisting at once.”

The night remained silent around us, but Edward relaxed visibly and turned toward me.  “Tonight,” he promised sternly as Sam emerged from the tree line, black and brooding.  Sam stopped just out of sight of the house.  I glanced back.  Charlie was watching us both from a gap in the living room curtains.  We started toward our goal, maintaining the illusion, but Edward’s eyes were elsewhere.

“She wasn’t aware of the boundaries,” he whispered, nervous as he walked past Sam.  He didn’t like turning his back on a werewolf.  “She has since been informed.  It won’t happen again.”  

The creature behind us let out a low growl.  I opened the car door and tugged on a bag, frustrated and glaring out at a sliver of moonlight reflected on sleek fur.  The bag gave too easily and I tumbled backwards.  Edward caught me.  He was furious, but it wasn’t directed at me.

“You saw her eyes, wolf.  Her hunting inclinations are the same as ours.  We will discuss this later tonight under less compromising conditions.”  His eyes wandered to the silhouette in the living room window.

I opened my mouth to protest, but closed it again when I saw Edward’s determined face.  There was no use arguing.  He’d just let me win, and then take off when I was asleep.  Stubborn predictable vampire.

He had both of our suitcases in his hand now as he turned back toward the house, his eyes barely acknowledging Sam and the other two figures who had crept out to join him.  The curtains closed as we neared the house again and the porch light came on.  Edward’s shoulders suddenly tensed in the moonlight and I heard a crack as one of the plastic suitcase handles was pulverized in his grip.

“No you will not!”  He growled suddenly, his face strained with effort as he tried not to turn around and give away the wolves’ position.  “Hunting her in any terrain would only result in all of your deaths.” 

My heart sank.  Were they really debating violence?  Had Irina’s appearance really caused that much of an uproar?  There was a triple flash of white teeth as all three wolves grimaced in the darkness.  Their growls seemed in harmony.  Edward sighed.

“You can’t hunt Irina,” he said dolefully.  “No one can.  She’s untraceable.”