AN: I'm so sorry for the delay! I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to do a follow up chapter so I went back and read everybody's reviews from the story and I knew I had to. Thank you guys so much for your incredibly kind words, they meant the world to me and it's because of you that I decided to round this story out. This story is done now but I'm starting to flesh out another story that I think you'll like if you like this one so keep an eye out for that! Without further ado…

Three Months Later

I awoke to a cool November breeze blowing through my open bedroom window after a restless night of nightmares and little sleep. I knew immediately that I was alone, Edward welcomed me to wakefulness every morning with a kiss as I started to rouse, today I was greeted by the silence and stillness of this chilly fall morning. Once I realised this it became obvious. Of course I had nightmares, because I was alone. I sighed and pushed myself into a sitting position and felt the chorus of aches and pains that I usually experienced when I got up in the morning.

Most of my injuries from that fateful day in August were mostly healed, my skin was closed, muscles knit back together and fractured bones made whole again. While the once fresh wounds were now pink scars, some of the pain remained in the form of deep aches where my wounds once were. As bad as the wounds were they really had healed remarkably and I thanked Carlisle's wonderful care for that, along with the amazing surgeons in Brazil that saved my life.

My ribs had healed fully, I experienced some pain in them when I bent or twisted but otherwise they didn't pain me anymore, my neck was the same story- it had healed up from the fusion surgery perfectly and aside from it being a bit stiff and painful at times I really couldn't complain about it. My shoulder (while completely healed) hadn't fared as well as my ribs or neck. I was only able to reach my arm just above my shoulder and the higher I got the more painful it became. The strength in my right arm and hand had been compromised too, not terribly so but it made performing simple tasks difficult.

The musculoskeletal injury that pained me the most though was my right thigh. It had had a tree branch driven through one side then out the other and in its wake it had caused a lot of damage. The branch had severed muscles and nerves and chipped my femur and it still pained me to move it or to put weight through it. I was using a cane up until recently when I switched it out for a white cane instead when I realised that my sight was a bigger issue than my limp.

The worst injury of all was the brain injury I received to the back of my head when the rushing water had slammed me into a tree. The blow to the occipital portion of my head had initially blinded me when I woke up after the accident, I was only able to see light and dark and the shadows of my loved ones. This occurred because the occipital region of the brain includes the part of your brain that processes vision, so while my eyes weren't damaged I still couldn't see.

Thankfully my eyesight had evolved from that and while it really had greatly improved from the early days of basically no sight, it wasn't anywhere near close to where it was before the accident. In fact it was just barely functional. Describing my vision is hard. I've been diagnosed with Cortical Visual Impairment, or CVI. For me it affects the way I view the world, I generally can't make sense of what I'm looking at, things will look jumbled up and blurry. Some things are really hard for me to see like fine details such as print, written words and unfortunately faces.

Another thing that I have issues seeing are shadows, to me they look like physical objects. Being in cluttered rooms, especially ones that are unfamiliar to me is overwhelming; my brain will try to guess or 'fill in' objects that it isn't sure about. So I might think that what I see is a can of pop but when I approach it and hold it to my face I would see that it was actually an apple, or alternatively I might think that it's Alice approaching me but really it's Esme. Holding things close to my face was the best way for me to see things clearly. I had a kind of tunnel vision as well, while I still had peripheral vision the vision around the centre was more muddled and difficult to see out of.

I've been using a white cane the last few weeks since my vision has been good enough to utilize it properly. It's been especially helpful since I have almost zero depth perception and also for when I can't tell if there's an object in front of me or if it's a shadow. In the last month Edward and I had moved into a small cottage in the forest behind the Cullen's modern home. The Cullen's had fixed it up for Edward and I after the wedding but Edward wouldn't agree to move us there until I was more medically stable.

It had taken a month and a half for Carlisle to give us the ok and just over two weeks for Edward to feel that I was truly ready. In the month that we had lived here I had more or less managed to figure my way around. As long as nothing was changed in the cottage then I was able to find my way around pretty easily, after tripping and falling over a laundry basket that Alice had left out at the Cullen's Edwards whole family had been sure to keep the main house and the cottage free from clutter.

One thing that makes my vision worse is being tired, and after my restless night full of nightmares I felt like I hadn't slept at all. I was noticing that my vision was markedly worse than normal and so when I reached for my cane that had been leaning against the bedside table next to the bed and it wasn't there I didn't hold out much hope of finding it. I begrudgingly got out of bed and went down onto my knees, my right thigh groaning in protest and me groaning in unison.

I reached under the bed and groped around for it unable to locate where it had rolled to. Looking for it did no good, it was dark under the bed and all I saw was a blurred mess, with a sigh I gave up and pulled myself to my feet. I knew roughly where everything in the cabin was but I had definitely started to rely on the cane to make myself feel more confident in moving around. While it did indeed make me feel better and more secure I was incredibly self-conscious of it.

I had yet to venture out beyond the cottage or the Cullen's except to go to Charlie's a few times and even around him I felt self-conscious using my cane. As far as I was aware no one in town really knew what had happened to me so the thought of going out into town clearly visually impaired gripped me with anxiety. I didn't want the stares or the questions or the sympathy, it was all too much.

I reluctantly made my way to the set of drawers that kept my clothes and went to the drawer with the blue sticker on it. The way I perceived colours hadn't been affected and so Esme had come up with the genius idea to colour code everything we could, including most cupboards and drawers in the house. I reached the drawer after fumbling forwards with my hands unsure how close I was to it. When I opened it I put on the first shirt I found and then found the drawer with pants and pushed my legs into a pair of yoga pants.

I made my way to the kitchen next and grabbed a box then held it close to my face and determined that yes it was indeed cereal. I went to the fridge next and grabbed a paper carton assuming it was milk- that was until I opened it and the pungent smell of orange juice greeted me. Oops I thought, we should get plastic cartons of orange juice next time. I replaced it and pulled out the actual milk carton this time and poured it in my cereal. Traversing the ten feet from the counter to the table without my cane scared me. I grabbed a spoon from the utensil drawer labeled with a yellow sticker and slowly started to make my way across the kitchen to the table.

I managed to cross the even floor without incident until my depth perception failed me again. I realised the chair that I thought was still more than a foot in front of me was suddenly far closer than I thought when I ran my bowl of cereal directly into the back of the chair knocking it from my hand and to the floor. I both heard and felt the bowl shatter as it hit the floor splashing me with shards of porcelain, bits of cereal and ice cold milk. I sighed as I dropped my head and rested my hands on the back of the chair eyes closed steeling myself against the thought of having to clean up such a mess without the ability to see it.

I knew that there were shards of porcelain scattered around and on my feet, I took a big step backwards to try and clear the mess and I managed not to step on any porcelain as I made my retreat. I cleaned off my feet and made my way to the bathroom to find the biggest towel I could. I brought it back to the kitchen to realise that the kitchen floor, bowl and milk were all a very similar colour of white. For what felt like the 100th time today I let out a big sigh, I'm going plastic everything from now on, plastic bowls, plates, glasses- everything.

'Alright.' I spoke aloud. 'You can do it Bella, time to prove you aren't useless. You can take care of yourself.' I said hoping that if I said it out loud that I would be true.

I held the towel horizontally dragging it on the ground hoping to push any shards of porcelain towards the main spill. I managed not to step on any as I got close to where I thought most of the mess was and threw the towel on the ground. I stepped forward feeling for the towel and found it saturated, I had hit it at least. I started bunching the towel up again trying to clean up as much milk as I could and picking up as much porcelain as I could.

I was bundling up the towel when I felt a sharp searing pain in the palm of my left hand. 'Damnit.' I swore trying to see the wound but seeing only red. I decided to ignore it for the time being and carried the sopping bundle of milk, cereal and porcelain to the garbage to shake it out then I brought the towel to the laundry bin and threw it in. by now my hand was dripping with blood and I went back in the kitchen and got a hand towel, wrapping it around my palm and gripping it tightly.

I made my way towards the closet and groped around until I found a handle and pulled it from the cupboard realizing it was a mop. I set it aside for later and reached again this time finding the broom handle. I reached down and unhooked the dustpan setting it on the counter and started sweeping in a wide radius around where the mess was and worked my way in.

I eventually figured that I had it all, I went and got the dust pan and swept the remains into it then dumped them in the garbage. I set the wet broom outside the back door not wanting to drip milk on the floor and went under the sink to try to find some kind of cleaner. I grabbed the first bottle I found and sprayed it on the floor immediately smelling Windex. 'Eh, close enough.' I said and started wiping the floor with the paper towels I found under the sink as well.

I finally got to a point where I was pretty sure that I cleaned it all up when I started noticing drops of red starting to spatter the floor. I cursed again and realised that my hand towel had been soaked through with blood; I threw it in the garbage and grabbed a wad of paper towel not wanting to ruin another towel with my blood. I cleaned up the blood off of the ground and threw those paper towels in the garbage as well. With my mess finally cleaned up I decided I should head to the Cullen's house to get Carlisle to look at my hand, it must be deeper than I thought for it to be bleeding this badly.

I knew that Jasper left to go hunting with Edward, Rosalie and Emmett so I didn't have to fear him smelling my blood. I put on a sweater one handed which was difficult with my right arm unable to lift very high and went out the front door headed to the Cullen's. I had barely made it off of the porch steps when I was completely disoriented. I had stepped outside into a world of white. Snow must have fallen over night and into the morning without me knowing it and had covered the forest in a blanket of cold fluffy snow.

I was easily disoriented these days, if my brain didn't quite understand what I was perceiving or it just couldn't understand it then I would get horribly nauseatingly dizzy. That's how Alice found me sitting on the porch steps, head in my right hand, left hand hanging between my legs steadily dripping blood onto the white snow. The contrast between the red blood and white snow was so startling it was the only thing that made sense to my confused dizzy brain; I was watching it as I heard Alice approach.

'Bella?!' I heard her cry out along with the crunch of snow under her feet as she ran towards me. 'Bella, what happened?!' she reached me and put a hand on my shoulder crouching down in front of me.

'I'm fine Alice, just got dizzy.' I answered her concern.

'How long have you been sitting out here?' she asked, I couldn't see her but I could tell she was appraising me looking for other injuries.

'Only a few minutes.' I replied.

'What are you doing out here? What happened to your hand?' she asked grabbing my hand with her own, removing the saturated paper towels and I imagined examining the wound. 'We need to get you to Carlisle.'

'That's what I was trying to do when I got dizzy.' I explained.

'Alright, come on.' She said grabbing me under the arm and replacing the sodden paper towels back into my hand.

I rose with her and she started to pull me towards the house before she stopped 'Wait, where's your cane Bella?'

'I couldn't find it this morning; I think it rolled under the bed.' I offered.

'No wonder you're in such a mess.' She said backing me up to the stairs again. 'Sit back down I'll be right back.' She lowered me down to the cold wooden steps again and went into the cottage reappearing moments later. I felt her pull the paper towels out of my hand again and replace them with fresh new ones. She went back in the house to throw them out then came back and placed my cane in my right hand.

'There's no way you could have gotten to it, you should have called me.' She said lifting me to my feet again and starting the walk towards the main house.

'I'm trying to be more independent Alice; I don't want to ask for help with every little thing.' I said as we crunched through the snow. 'Clearly I wasn't ready.' I sighed.

'What happened to your hand Bella?' Alice asked more gently.

'Do you think we could get some plastic dishware for the cottage Alice?' I asked.

'Sure Bella, why?' She asked confused.

'I cut my hand cleaning up the bowl that I broke.' I admitted.

'Bella,' Alice scolded 'you shouldn't have tried to clean it up. I could have done it for you.'

'I know Alice, that's not the point. I just want to try to get my life back.' I said and we were quiet the rest of the way to the house.

'Carlisle!' Alice called when we walked into the house.

'Good morning Bella.' Carlisle greeted me as I kicked my shoes off at the front door. 'Oh dear.' He said taking my hand. 'What happened?'

'Dropped a bowl.' I said as he led me over to the dining room table, my cane hit the leg of the chair and before I could reach for it he pulled it out for me and led me to it. 'Sit Bella.' He said.

I collapsed my cane as I sat and put it on the chair next to me. 'Thanks Carlisle.'

'Let me see.' He said and I opened my hand up, he pulled the paper towel from my hand and made a tsking sound. 'This is going to need stitches Bella. It's quite deep.'

I sighed 'Sorry Carlisle, I should have been smarter about it.'

'Nonsense Bella, you're figuring things out for yourself. It won't always be easy but you'll get it. I'm proud of you, don't give up, keep trying.' He said.

'Thanks Carlisle.' I said in a small voice as he probed my hand.

'Does it hurt?' he asked me.

'Not much.' I responded truthfully.

'I guess you've experienced much worse.' He said and I laughed a humourless laugh. 'I'll be right back.' I heard him walk away in the direction of his study.

'Good morning Bella.' Esme said surprising me; I didn't know she was in the room. 'Have you had breakfast?' she asked me.

Turning my head towards her I said 'Good morning Esme, no, my breakfast got interrupted.' I motioned towards my hand.

'How about I make you something?' she asked rubbing a hand on my back.

'You don't have to do that Esme, I'm ok.' I said not wanting to be more of a burden.

'Please, it's my pleasure.' she said as she took off towards the kitchen.

I heard a chair scrape across the table and I squinted hard to see who it was to no avail.

'How's your vision today?' Alice's concerned voice asked from the occupied seat across the table.

I just shook my head at her question and as if in response I rubbed my eyes in annoyance at how blurry everything was today.

'I figured.' She said in response. 'When Carlisle is done with you how about you and I go and do some shopping in Port Angeles? I think you're more than due for a shopping trip.'

'Oh Alice.' I said feeling my anxiety heighten at the thought of being in public. 'I don't know…'

'C'mon Bella, we'll get you some new dishes, some new clothes and then we'll come home.' She practically begged. As much as I didn't want to be so far away from home, at least by going to Port Angeles I would be unlikely to run into anyone from Forks. Maybe this trip would do me some good, give me some more confidence and I really did want some new dishes.

'Alright Alice,' I said begrudgingly 'I'll come with you.'

'Yay!' she squealed in response.

I heard Carlisle approach again 'All right Bella, we'll get you fixed up and then you and Alice can go out together.'

'Thanks Carlisle.' I responded and he got to work cleaning my hand, when he was satisfied he used a topical cream to numb around the edges of the wound and waited for it to kick in. He poked me with the dull end of the needle.

'Anything?' he asked me and I shook my head. He got to work sewing the cut in my hand. 'It really is quite deep, you did a good job on it.' He said laughing and I laughed back.

'You know me, I don't do anything halfway.' I said to him as I felt the pull of stitches in my hand. Before I knew it he was done and he was cleaning my hand one more time and wrapping a bandage around my palm.

'All right Bella, I'm all done. I'm going to give you something for the pain.' He said and I started to object but he quickly cut me off. 'I know that you're reluctant to take any more medications but it's just Tylenol. I don't want your hand throbbing when you're away from home and away from medicine.' He said and I conceded taking the two pills that he offered me downing them with a swig of water.

I could smell whatever it was that Esme was cooking for me and it smelled divine. Carlisle cleaned up the mess he had made while cleaning and stitching my hand and I thanked him for his help. Not ten minutes later Esme brought my breakfast to the table, I couldn't tell exactly what it was but I knew it was an omelette of some sort and toast- much better than the cereal I had tried to pour myself earlier today.

'Thank you Esme, it smells delicious.' I said as she placed it in front of me. After a night of little sleep and a stressful morning I found I wasn't very hungry but I ate as much as I could and it really did taste very good.

'Are you done?' Alice asked as I leaned back unable to eat anymore.

'Yeah I'm done.' I answered and she came over and picked up my plate, bringing it to the kitchen for me, I normally would object to being doted on but after my morning I just shut up and said 'Thank you Alice.'

'Are you ready to go out?' she asked me.

'Yeah, can you fix my hair first?' I asked, my hair had been such an annoyance for me, I could never see it properly and thus never knew if it looked good or not.

'Of course.' she said and almost immediately started brushing my hair as if she was just waiting for me to ask. 'Perfect!' she said after only a few seconds, at least my hair behaved pretty well generally. That is as long as you don't try to tie it up in a ponytail. Ever since I had the back of my head shaved it's still been growing back in, it was about 2 inches long at this point and would stick out in every direction if I tried to constrain it.

I pushed myself up from the table grabbing my cane in my right hand in the process and almost immediately tripped over the chair righting myself painfully with my right leg, pain searing its way up my right thigh. I dropped my cane and gripped the back of the chair with my right hand.

'Crap, Bella are you ok?' Alice asked coming to my side.

I nodded eyes closed tightly shut sucking air in through my nose fighting through the pain. I quickly regained my composure and pushed myself up straight; Alice passed me my discarded cane and offered me her arm- something the Cullen's tried to do less often these days.

'Not having a good day, huh?' she asked me gently.

'No.' I said shaking my head. 'Didn't sleep well.'

'Your vision is so much worse when you don't sleep, isn't it?' She asked leading me to the front door and offering me a coat, taking the cane from me and giving it back when I had zipped it up.

'Seems to be when it's the worst for sure.' I responded taking her arm again as we walked out the door.

'Step.' Alice offered helpfully as my cane bumped down the stairs.

A new issue that had arisen since my blindness is that I get car sick, the inability to see what was going on clearly around me but having the world flying by me was nauseating. By the time we got to Port Angeles I was feeling quite queasy but the cool November air was refreshing and helped to clear my head a bit.

I have never enjoyed shopping but I know that it's Alice's favourite thing and that's why I found myself sitting in a clothing store surrounded by clothing I could barely see. She had done so much for me in the past few months, all of the Cullen's had that I felt like I couldn't say no when she wanted something so easy of me. I felt as though I could feel the looks of people on me especially when the stores employees would come over periodically and ask we required help, Alice would simply reply 'No thank you.' And they would wander off.

It was when I saw a flash of bright pink that I said 'Alice, I'm trusting you. Please don't put me in anything that I wouldn't put myself in.'

She sighed 'Fine Bella, it's no fun if I have to trick you into it anyway.'

After that I saw mostly muted neutral tones and thankfully Alice knew me and my body so well that I didn't really have to try much on. After the clothes store we went and purchased a whole new set of plastic plates, bowls and cups. Much to my surprise we only shopped for about 2 hours before she let me go back home. The ride home was worse than the ride there and by the time we got back I was doubled over on myself trying not to vomit.

'House or cottage?' Alice asked me simply.

'Cottage please.' I didn't want an audience if I vomited. She helped me to walk up to the cottage and I hurried for the bathroom hugging the toilet. I retched a few times but never actually vomited which meant that the nausea didn't go away. After a while Alice led me back to the couch and I curled up on my side in the fetal position. Alice turned on the TV for me as some comforting background noise and placed a wet washcloth on my forehead. I heard her bustling around the cottage putting the new clothes in the washing machine and washing the new dishes in the sink. I also heard the familiar clinking of the ceramic and glass dishes being loaded into a box and packed away.

It was early evening before Edward came back home and it was in this same position that he found me when he arrived. I had been curled up on the couch since we got home, the nausea barely improving at all. Alice must have silently told him what went on today because he didn't ask any questions about why I was curled up on the couch how I was. He just came and sat down next to me and brushed the hair out of my eyes.

'Bad day, huh?' he asked quietly.

'Sorry.' I said 'You should be able to leave without things falling apart.'

'Why are things so much worse for you when I leave?' he asked me.

'I don't know.' I lied and he sensed it.

'Bella, you can tell me.'

'You're already loathe to leave me I don't want to make it any worse.' I explained.

I have to know love, so I can fix it.' He pushed.

'You can't fix it.' I said sighing. 'When you're here you keep the nightmares at bay, when you leave I get such bad night terrors that I barely get any sleep, and when I don't sleep my vision is bad the next day.' I said shrugging. 'There's nothing to be done about it Edward, you still have to go out and hunt.'

He kissed me on the forehead 'I'm sorry Bella.' He said unsure of what else to say.

'It's not your fault Edward, I'm sure it will get better with time.' I told him.

'Mm.' Was all he said in response. 'Are you still nauseous?' he asked and I nodded. He went to the bathroom and came back with a pill that he placed in my hand. 'It's a Gravol.' He said. 'It might make you tired but at least the nausea will go away. Longer car rides are still out of the question I guess.'

'For the foreseeable future anyway.' I agreed.

We were quiet for a few minutes before Edward said 'It reeks of your blood in here, what has your blood on it?'

'Oh crap, sorry.' I said sitting up 'I forgot to empty the garbage.' I went to get up to get it and Edward gently pushed me back down.

'It's ok Bella, I'll get it. Stay laying until you feel better.' Edward said getting up and heading to the kitchen to empty the garbage.

When he came back I was laying on the couch again starting to drift off. 'How about you eat some dinner then go to bed?' Edward asked and so I did. I quickly ate some leftovers then went to bed with Edward falling asleep almost immediately.

When I woke the next morning the sun was low in the sky signalling that it was about 6am, I had slept almost 12 hours.

'Good morning.' Edward greeted me with his usual good morning kiss. 'Any nightmares last night?' he asked.

'None.' I smiled at him reaching up and feeling his face. This is something I had taken to doing since the accident; it helped to fill in some of the holes so to speak. He always accepted it without question, letting me do what I need to do to make my world make sense.

'How's the vision today?' he asked gently.

'Much better than yesterday, that sleep did me good.' I answered.

The day passed much less eventfully than yesterday, I didn't have any accidents and in the afternoon I decided that I wanted to go and make dinner for Charlie. Edward and I went to the grocery store to buy everything I needed to make stuffed peppers. This trip was much more anxiety inducing than the trip to Port Angeles, I was much more likely to run into someone I knew here in Forks. Because of this I refused to use my cane and pushed the cart instead getting Edward to grab all of the items we needed and also relying on him to help me steer.

The grocery store was extremely overwhelming, it was incredibly busy and there was so much visual clutter I was having a harder time than usual with my depth perception, I was constantly feeling like I was going to run into things. By the time we were done a headache had started at the back of my head as it often did when I became overwhelmed. Thankfully we managed to make it out of the grocery store without running into anyone I knew and we headed to Charlie's house.

Edward helped me a great deal in the kitchen, reading the recipe, helping me to measure but stood by vigilantly as I diced and cooked ready to step in if I was about to cut or burn myself. I was grateful that he didn't oppose to me doing these things that I knew myself capable of, but were potentially dangerous.

'Charlie's home.' Edward said right as I was pulling the peppers from the oven and placing them on the stove.

'What time is it?' I asked.

'Just about 6:30.' He said gently grabbing my right arm as I turned stopping me from burning my arm on the baking sheet.

'Oh, woops! Thanks Edward.' I said gratefully.

'No problem love.' He said as Charlie walked in through the front door.

'Hello?' I heard Charlie call as he entered the front door; I hadn't warned him we were coming wanting to surprise him with dinner.

'Hey Dad, we're in here.' I called to him.

'Bells?' He responded, it wasn't until I called to him that I heard him set his gun belt down at the door. 'Something smells good.' He said as he walked into the kitchen. 'Hey Edward.' Charlie said pleasantly, ever since the accident Charlie had been very pleasant towards Edward, eternally thankful that he had kept me alive after the tsunami.

'Hey kid.' He said hugging me 'How are you doing today? You made all this?'

'Hey Dad, I'm good today and yeah it's been so long since I made you dinner and I felt like doing something useful for once.' I said to him.

'Um Bells, it's super nice of you and I appreciate it but Sue is on her way right now, she was going to make dinner here tonight. Is she able to join us?' Charlie asked sheepishly.

'Of course Dad,' I said smiling 'There's more than enough for everyone.'

'What happened to your hand Bella?' Charlie asked having just noticed the bandage around my hand that I had nearly forgotten.

I held my hand up 'Oh yeah, I cut it cleaning up a bowl I dropped yesterday, its fine I barely even feel it.' It was quiet for a moment and I assumed that Charlie and Edward were silently communicating but my sight wasn't good enough to pick up on it. It was things like this I hated; everyone knew they could get away with talking about me silently without me knowing.

I cleared my throat awkwardly and asked 'So when is Sue going to be here?'

'In the next half an hour I think.' He answered after a moment.

'I still have to make a salad, why don't you go and get cleaned up and I'll have it ready by the time she gets here.' I said.

'Sounds good, I'm going to try to call her first and hopefully catch her before she leaves so she knows she doesn't have to cook today.' Charlie said walking to the phone and calling Sue. Thankfully she hadn't left yet and he told her what was going on.

Charlie went upstairs to change and I pulled out a head of romaine lettuce and started cutting it up along with carrots, celery and onion. I mixed the salad up with some salad dressing and put the bowl in the middle of the table. I poured water for everyone next using my finger inside the glass so I would know when to stop pouring.

'I'm sorry that you have to, but you're adjusting so well.' Edward said unexpectedly with both pride and sadness in his voice.

'Thanks Edward.' I said looking up at him surprised. 'It really doesn't feel like it sometimes, when I no longer feel like a burden I might start to believe it.'

'Don't be so hard on yourself.' He said wrapping his arms around me and kissing me on the top of my head. 'You're doing remarkably well.'

I served the stuffed peppers and had Edward hover close by in case I had another mishap, thankfully nothing of the sort happened. Charlie came downstairs almost at the same time that Sue walked in. Sue came to me and pulled me into a gentle hug, it was the first time I had seen her since the accident. When I came over previously my dad kept the house empty to make sure things were quiet for me. I could tell that Sue was glad to see me well; I could tell she had been very worried.

'It's so good to see you Bella, I'm so glad you're well.' Sue said sincerely.

'Thanks Sue, it's great to see you as well. Thank you for taking care of Charlie and making sure that he eats.' I said laughing and she laughed in return pulling away from me.

'You know that I did cook for myself for many years before you two right?' Charlie said a little miffed.

'Yeah and I'm not sure how you survived.' I said, Sue laughing again.

It said a lot about how much Sue cared about my Dad that as far as I could tell she was civil to Edward even though I knew how uncomfortable him and the rest of the Cullen's made her. Charlie had stopped asking by now, and I think he might have briefed Sue about the fact that Edward just didn't eat with us, we didn't even have to supply an explanation about why he sat at the table with no food in front of him.

When dinner was done Edward cleared the table for me and I went to go and do the dishes.

'Bells you don't have to do that.' Charlie said.

'It's okay.' I responded 'I don't mind. I would appreciate if you put the dishes away though.' I said.

'No problem.' He responded.

Edward poured the water and washed the knives I used then he let me do the rest knowing I wanted to do whatever 'normal' tasks that I could. I washed the dishes and Charlie dried and put them away only having to send back a few that I missed some of the food on. I couldn't really see where the dishes were dirty at all; it took me feeling along the dishes to find it. As monotonous as doing the dishes was I found myself enjoying it, any task I could do nowadays that was useful made me feel good.

By the time we were done we decided to go home as it was pushing 9:30pm and I was starting to get fairly tired and plus I knew Charlie worked in the morning so I didn't want to overstay my welcome.

'I think we'll head out now Dad.' I said after I handed him the last plate.

'Alrighty Bella, thanks again for dinner it was such a nice surprise to have you both here.' He said.

I started making my way to the front door to put my jacket on while Edward stayed in the kitchen finishing his conversation with Sue. I was halfway down the hallway when I went to take a step with my right foot and it struck something that was a foreign object in the usually clear hallway. I wasn't able to pull my right foot forward and my momentum sent me crashing down onto my right knee. It took everything in me not to cry out as a horrible bolt of pain exploded in my thigh from the impact.

'Bella!' Charlie cried out having seen me fall to the floor. I felt him pull the object out from under my foot and he helped me to sit on my bottom and pull my right leg out from under me stretching it out in front of me. I sat back with my back against the wall of the hallway with my right foot almost touching the wall of the narrow hall around me.

I sat with my eyes scrunched closed sucking air in through my nose, I was so distracted by the pain I didn't notice Edward approach.

'What happened?' he asked from right next to me, voice even and controlled.

'She tripped on Sue's purse.' said Charlie sounding pretty upset.

'Oh my god. Bella I am so, so sorry. I didn't even think, I am so sorry!' Sue apologized profusely sounding genuinely upset.

'It's okay.' I said breathily, pain starting to abate 'I'm fine, don't worry about it. It's an easy mistake to make; I should have brought my cane.'

'No Bella, you shouldn't need your cane in your father's house, it's entirely my fault and I promise it won't happen again.' Sue said.

'Okay.' I said after a few more moments and reached my arm over to Edward silently asking for help standing up and he slowly helped me to my feet. I put weight through my foot and there was a deep ache through my right thigh and when I put my full weight through it sent a sharp pain through. It was very painful but manageable.

'Are you okay Bella?' Charlie asked and I nodded.

'Yeah I'll be fine Dad.' I said to him and turned to the woman hovering at the entrance to the kitchen 'I'm okay Sue, honestly. Don't worry, it's just sore- I'll be fine in no time.' I tried to reassure her.

Charlie came and hugged me 'I really am glad you came Bells, it was so good to see you. Don't be a stranger kid, okay?'

'Of course not Dad, I'll be back again really soon. I promise.' I told him returning the hug.

'Bye Bella.' Both Charlie and Sue said as Edward held my arm and helped me limp from the house.

I leaned heavily on Edward as he led me back to his Volvo. 'Are you okay Bella?' he asked me for the first time, thankfully he had been fairly silent in the house- I knew how he could be when I was hurt.

'I'll be okay, it's just sore. I don't think I did anything too bad to it.' I told him.

'I'm sorry Bella, I should have been with you and I should have seen her bag on the floor.' Edward said guiltily.

'Oh Edward, you can't stop every little thing from happening to me. I was clumsy before, but nowadays I'm a walking disaster. I'm going to have accidents and you won't always be able to stop it. You've got to get past this self-loathing and blaming yourself.' I admonished him.

He sighed 'Unfortunately you're right.' He helped me sit in the passenger side of the Volvo helping to slowly get my right leg into the car without causing me any more pain. 'It's something I have to work on.' He said leaning in to kiss me then closing the car door.

I looked out the passenger door towards Charlie's house and could faintly make out my old rust coloured truck. Edward got into the car next to me. 'It makes me sad seeing my truck sitting there obsolete.' I said to him.

'Your truck has been obsolete for a long time.' He said joking.

'Be nice, she served me well.' I scolded him.

'So what are you thinking?' he asked me knowing my train of thought didn't stop there.

'I'm thinking she should go to someone who can drive her and take care of her.' I responded. 'I think I want to give Jacob back the truck. I know he doesn't have as much time for it these days but I figured that he would have more use for it than I do and if he doesn't want it maybe he knows someone that would want it.'

'Okay Bella, if that's what you want; we can give him a call tomorrow.' Edward said and I nodded. Ever since the wedding Jacob had come back home and been around a lot more, he saw the toll that his absence was having on his father. He hadn't come to see me since I lived on the Cullen's land but we had talked on the phone quite a few times and I had told him everything that had happened to me.

The next morning I called Jacob and asked him if he wanted it or knew someone that did and he said that he absolutely did and would meet me at my Dad's house later that afternoon. Around 4pm Edward drove me to my Dad's house and decided to wait in town until I called him and asked him to pick me up. He still didn't fully trust Jacob and wanted to be close in case I needed him.

My dad was still at work when I arrived at his house and it was eerily silent and dark in the gloomy November afternoon. It didn't take long before I heard an engine approach and idle outside of the house. After a few seconds I heard a light knock on the door and went to answer it. I was swept up in a huge hug by my friend that I hadn't seen since the night of my wedding.

'Bella! I'm so happy to see you!' he said into my hair.

'Jake.' I said trying to wriggle out of his arms. 'Ow.'

'Oh crap, sorry Bella.' He said immediately setting me back on my feet.

'Still fairly sore.' I said to him.

'I'm sorry I should have realised, you look so good though Bells.' He said 'I never could have guessed what happened to you just by looking at you.'

'Thanks Jake, let's go sit down.' I said leading him back to the living room limping more heavily than normally.

'Is your leg okay Bella?' he asked as he followed behind me.

'Yeah, last night we had dinner here and Sue left her purse in the hall. I wasn't expecting it to be there, I didn't see it and I tripped and fell. Just exacerbated the wound in my leg, it'll be better soon.' I told him.

'Good to hear.' He said quietly. 'How is your vision Bella?' he asked delicately.

'Better some days than others, but even on the best days it's not good. Things are confusing and hard to understand, my brain just can't make sense of the information that my eyes are sending to it. I honestly don't think that it will ever be normal again- hence the getting rid of the truck.' I explained to him.

'I'm so sorry Bella- that's not fair.' Jacob said sincerely.

'It's not, but it could have been so much worse. I came so close to death that dealing with a limp, a bad shoulder and crappy eyesight is nothing. I'll be fine.' I said appreciating his thoughtfulness.

'Honestly, I'm just glad you came back human.' Jacob said. 'I figured there was no chance that you would come back, well, you.'

My eyes narrowed 'So you preferred that I came back injured the way I am having almost died instead of coming back as a vampire?'

'Honestly? Yes.' He said truthfully and I felt my blood start to boil.

'Jacob Black you haven't even been here five minutes and you've already managed to say something incredibly hurtful and offensive.' I said getting up and walking into the kitchen.

'Here.' I said pushing a piece of paper into Jacob's chest as I came back to the living room. 'It's the ownership to the truck, just take it and go.' I went to turn away from him and he grabbed my wrist.

'Aw Bella, I'm sorry. I don't know why I say the things that I do sometimes.' He said standing taking my hand.

'If you are going to be my friend you have to stop being so prejudiced, my husband and my family are all vampires and one day I probably will be too.' I said angrily. 'You have to realise that I will be the same person then that I am now.'

'Why aren't you?' he asked suddenly.

'Why aren't I what?' I asked confused.

'Why aren't you a vampire? Edward was presented with the perfect opportunity to change you and didn't. Why? No one could have blamed him if he did.' Jacob asked surprising me and letting go of my hand.

'It's complicated.' I said slowly, 'Edward and I had talked about it and I had decided that I wasn't quite ready yet, mostly I wasn't ready to leave my father.' I told him.

'I thought you were gung ho and ready to leave your old life behind.'

I shrugged 'I still want that, just not yet. I'm glad that Edward did what he did, I've really cherished the time I've had with my Dad since the accident.'

'It doesn't have to end Bella, you don't have to change.' He said taking a step towards me.

'I swear Jacob; I'm not ever having this conversation with you again. Drop it or leave, that's enough. I said fiercely, I wasn't putting up with him anymore.

'Ok, ok Bella. I'm sorry I'll stop.' He said apologetically. 'Do you feel like going for a ride in the truck before I take it? Maybe down to La Push for a bit?' he asked hopefully.

I shook my head 'Going for rides in the car is kind of a nightmare for me these days; I get really motion sick from not being able to see. And I'm not quite ready for a trip to La Push yet, my world has shrunk considerably and it will take a while for it to grow back to where it was.' I said.

'Alright Bella.' He said gently. 'You're so you that it's hard to remember that you've changed, I'll get used to it I swear.' He said and led me back to the couch. We sat and talked and I mostly let him talk about what had been going on in the pack and on the reservation- all of the drama and skirmishes and new imprintings.

By the time Charlie came home around 6:30 our conversation had begun winding down and Jacob excused himself thanking me for the truck and greeting Charlie.

'You gave Jake the truck?' Charlie asked me surprised.

'Yeah, I figured we shouldn't let it rot in the driveway forever, a truck needs to be driven. Plus, Jake can take care of it.' I explained to him lowering myself to sit in a dining room chair.

'You're going to drive again Bella.' Charlie said matter-of-factly, a little defensively. He was ever the optimist.

'I know Dad.' I said seeing no reason to argue with him, I loved that he believed in me, even beyond what was reasonable. 'But it probably won't be for a while, and the truck doesn't have a ton of life left in it. It would be a shame for it to never drive again.'

'I guess.' He agreed reluctantly.

'Plus, Edward is dying to buy me a car once I can drive again and I'd hate to deny him of the privilege.' I finished, laughing.

He laughed too knowing how Edward was with his cars. 'Alright, yeah I get it.'

'Plus Sue can park in the driveway now too, that's a plus.' I said. Charlie made us a quick dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and we chatted for a while.

'What are you thinking of doing next Bells?' Charlie asked me, I knew what he was referring to.

'Well, I don't think I could handle taking on school full time but after hearing what happened the University of Alaska offered us a later start date of April this year. Edward and I talked and I think that we will accept it and just take one or two courses instead of the full curriculum. We'll see how it goes and maybe continue from there if all goes well.' I told him.

'Do you think you could handle school right now? With the reading and taking notes and writing tests?' He asked me.

'Well I have Edward to help me with the reading and note taking and the school has adaptive learning and will let me take my tests verbally so I don't have to write anything.' I told him.

'Sounds like you've got it all figured out.' Charlie said. 'Do you think you're ready? Don't push yourself too hard too fast, school isn't going anywhere.'

'I know.' I said 'But I feel like I need to do something, sitting around doing nothing isn't helping me, I'm ready to push myself a little bit.' I was truly going stir crazy in the cabin every day.

'You're still set on Alaska?' he asked, the disapproval obvious in his voice.

'I am, I want the experience and plus going so far away where no one will know me just feels like what I need to get my confidence back. I'm so self-conscious here- worried that someone I know will see me with my cane that I'm often too anxious to go out in public.' I explained.

'Bells that's silly, no one is judging you.' Charlie said.

'Well in Alaska even if people do judge me I won't care because I don't know who they are.' He laughed at this.

'Can't argue with that logic.' He said and I laughed back.

'I'll miss you when you go Bella.' Charlie said after a short silence.

'It won't be forever.' I said smiling at him knowing that one of these days it would be forever and hoping that going away to school might make leaving him one day easier.

'No, it won't.' he agreed. 'Renee won't be happy with you moving even farther away.'

I laughed 'She'll be okay; we'll come back as often as we can.'

We chatted for a while longer before Edward showed up to pick me up. I had called him after Jake left to let him know he could head home and pick me up later so he didn't have to hang around town all night. I bid Charlie farewell and promised to visit again soon and we made our way out.

'How was your day?' Edward asked on the way out.

'It was good, Jacob was Jacob but he came around. I had a good talk with Charlie about school.' I said.

'Oh yeah?' he asked helping me into the car. 'Does that mean you've decided?'

'Yeah I think so; I'm ready for a fresh start- a new beginning.' I said as he got into his side of the car.

'I think that sounds like a great idea.' He said. 'I guess we have 5 months to get ready, Alice is going to have a fit.'

'Alice?' I asked.

'You have to know there's no chance of us going without her right?' he said smiling.

'I didn't really think about it but yeah you're right. It will be nice to have a friendly face there.' I said.

'And someone to keep an eye on you when I go hunting, keep you in one piece.' He laughed again.

'Yeah, yeah.' I said. 'Oh, are we still able to approve the offer?' I asked suddenly realizing it might be too late.

He smiled wryly at me 'I did last month.' I looked at him quizzically 'Alice was fairly certain that this would be your decision and had me approve the offers before it was too late. She's been planning everything for the last month; we have a house ready any everything.

'Of course you do.' I said, I shouldn't have been surprised, it was Alice after all.

'I'm so glad you made this decision, I can't wait for you to go to school.' He said to me.

'I wish I shared your enthusiasm. I'll be relying on you pretty heavily to help me get through it.' I said.

'I'll help you get through anything Bella. Always.'

She's done friends! Please let me know what you think! It wasn't super exciting but I wanted to show Bella's return to normalcy after becoming visually impaired. I hope it lived up to your expectations. Like I said I have plans for a new story similar to this one and so I hope you'll stick around for it. Until next time!