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"I can't stand this anymore," Charlie grumbled near the end of his fifth week in the hospital, or captivity as he referred to it. He dramatically pushed his tray table away. I really couldn't say that I blamed him, I had had my fill of hospital food during the few days I spent in the one in Phoenix after the James incident last spring. "I want to go home."

Charlie had been through the gamut of hospital units. He started in ICU in the initial days after the accident. He then went to a step-down unit once the pressure inside his head had gone down enough to get him off of the ventilator. Now he was on a rehabilitation unit building strength in his leg and dealing with the bouts of dizziness that had plagued him since the accident.

"Ask and you shall receive," the cheerful neurosurgeon said, waltzing into the room at the perfect moment.

Dr. Moony could always bring a smile to Charlie's face. The man was so cheerful it was infectious, that coupled with the fact that he had literally saved Charlie's life softened him a bit. But the smile that spread across my father's face today was not one I had seen in a while. "Are you serious," he gasped.

"Absolutely," Dr. Moony insisted. "You are doing great. You'll have to take it easy for a while, but it sure seems like you'll be in capable hands." The doctor patted me on the head like a puppy. Coming from anyone else, I might have felt offended, but it was hard to feel anything derogatory toward Dr. Moony. "The dizziness is getting better every day, but you won't be able to stay by yourself."

Charlie looked as though someone had just deflated his birthday balloon. "Bells has a job. She's saving up to go to college in the fall," Charlie stated, although I could tell it pained him to do it, "I'll be on my own during the evening. You still think it will be O.K. doc?"

"I can see if Sue can look in on you on her days off, Jacob is mainly working in the morning at the garage, and I'm sure Billy wouldn't mind coming over to watch some baseball games," I said quickly. Jacob and I had already started networking with Charlie's friends to plan for his return home.

"See," Dr. Moony said confidently, "I knew you were in capable hands. I've already talked to your therapist and the other doctors on your case. We'll get it all set for tomorrow." And with that, he strolled back out of the room.

Charlie reached for the tray he had only minutes before pushed away, his appetite suddenly returned. But three bites into his vegetable lasagna, his meal was interrupted again.

"Knock, knock," said the officer that had taken our report the night of the accident. I had since learned that his name was Kirby.

"Hey buddy," Charlie cheerfully boomed, his attitude over the recent good news seemingly seeping from every pore. "Were you able to get it finished up for me?"

Kirby looked at me nervously; like he wasn't sure he wanted to be near me. I immediately began to wonder if he had dug around and found some way to discount our account of the accident. Most of the evidence had been burned up with the cruiser, but I stilled worried that something would have remained. Up until now, I hadn't gotten the impression that any further investigation was even being ordered. Charlie's excellent set up of the story hadn't given them any reason.

Get a hold of yourself! I mentally ordered. I took a deep breath and decided to reign in my panic attack until I heard what Kirby had to say.

"It's OK," Charlie chimed in, "just go ahead and give it to her now."

I allowed myself a full exhale. Charlie seemed to be fully aware of why Kirby had come by, and I didn't think he could remain so happy if he thought that his daughter were about to be arrested for arson.

Kirby handed me a plain black shopping bag with red handles. I held it gingerly, still not sure what to make of the entire scene.

"Given my current… situation," Charlie scanned his eyes around the room to emphasize his meaning, "I was not able to get you a graduation present. I made a few phone calls and got most of this arranged, but Kirby here had to pick it up and make sure all of the papers were turned in for me."

I felt my unwarranted anxiety slowly seeping through my tired feet from my shift at Newton's into the hard tile floor.

"Open it up, Bells," he said, nodding toward the bag.

I looked into the bag and tears immediately filled my eyes. "Dad," was all I could manage to choke out.

"If you don't like that model, the sales lady told me you can exchange it within three days with no penalties," Kirby said, not understanding the tears at all.

I pulled out a pale blue cell phone. I turned it back and forth in my hand, cradling it. It was the kind that had the number keys on the front and flipped open to reveal a full qwerty keyboard. I absolutely loved it, but I was confused by what else I saw in the bag. At the bottom of the bag lay two more of the same model of phone, only in black.

"Why three?" I asked.

"One is for me," Charlie said snatching the bag from my hand playfully. He removed one of the sleek black objects from the bag. "And as hard as it is for me to face this, I am certain that I am not the man you will be most anxious to hear from when you're up in Seattle. The other is for Jacob." He cleared his throat and looked out the window. "You and Jake will both be making a lot of trips back and forth. The accident made me realize… I take it for granted that I always have a radio in my car, but the two of you don't."

The tears were dripping off of my cheeks now. Charlie's thoughtfulness never ceased to amaze me: from the purchase of my truck before I ever moved to Forks, to the chains on my tires he installed before the sun was even up when the weather got bad, to the way he cared for me after Edward left. Despite my age when I moved in with him, my father took his guardianship of me very seriously. Now he was doing the best he could to make sure that would continue.

"These phones have awesome cameras on them, Bella," Kirby pointed out. The attempt to soften the atmosphere was obvious but appreciated. It made me realize that he wasn't as oblivious to emotions as I thought he was. Being male, he just generally chose to avoid them.

"That's why I picked them," Charlie chimed in. "We can send all of the pictures or text messages we want to each other."

I had to chuckle a little as an image flashed in my head of Charlie sending me pictures of the fish that he caught on his Saturday trips. As corny as it sounded, even to me, I looked forward to getting them.

"And, I checked with Renee, Bells, she and Phil have the same network, so you can call or send messages to them too," Charlie went on.

I opened my new toy and snapped a picture. I wanted to remember this day.

"You know, we can't do this anymore once Charlie is back home," I said as Jacob and I snuggled into my bed that night. We had fallen into a routine since Charlie had been away.

Jacob would take his turns running patrols through the woods and then climb in my window to join me. Or, like tonight, he would wrap himself around me, putting us both into a peaceful slumber. There had been no sign of Victoria since prom night. Jared knew that he had injured her, although not bad enough to cause real damage. The pack presumed she was hiding away somewhere, nursing her wounds. But, we all figured she was planning her next round of aggression. We all knew she would come back; we just didn't know when. She not only had the score to settle over the murder of James, the pack had now killed two of her other partners in crime.

"You said that Edward used to sneak in your window and spend the night in here all the time," Jacob said as he pulled just the sheet around us, his heat assuring we wouldn't need any more cover.

He was clad in his usual cut off shorts. I was in one of his T-shirts and a pair of old gym shorts. It had only taken me one night to learn that my sweat pants just got too hot when I slept next to my werewolf.

"Yeah he did, but you are forgetting one important thing," I said before giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"That he was a worthless bloodsucker not worthy of your time and attention?"

"Jake! You are such a smartass," I said reaching back to swat him. "I was talking about the fact that Edward did not sleep and YOU snore like a freight train."

"Oh, that!" Jacob leaned in close to my ear and snorted.

"Yes that," I said giggling and squirming to get away at which I utterly failed. A failure that was welcome, Jacob's strong arms held me firmly in place. "I would venture to guess that Charlie would catch us within the first hour."

"Charlie likes me," he said confidently as if that would excuse the fact that he was sleeping in the same bed as his teenage daughter.

"Let's keep it that way."

"Next year, when you're in Seattle…"

"We'll be able to do this every weekend," I said finishing the thought for him. And what a good thought it was.

Well, that's it! I have the next story mapped out in my head, but I have yet to write it. Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. Maybe you guys out there can imagine in your own minds how you would want their story to go. That's what the whole fanfiction thing is about, right?

Thanks for the great reviews and all the great stories I find on this site.