Place and Time

A/N: Sometimes it's all about being in the right place at the right time. Often, much has to fall in place to arrive at that fated right place at the right time.

Chapter 1: The Traveling Envelope

By the time the envelope landed in Bella Swan's hands, it was looking a little worse for the wear. That was understandable, as it had spent the past forty-plus days traveling from one corner of the continental United States to the other.

And then back again.

The envelope had been mailed off from Bellevue, Washington, almost six weeks ago, and had been addressed to Ms. Isabella Swan, care of Mr. and Mrs. Phil Dwyer, at Bella's mother and stepfather's old address in Phoenix.

Unfortunately, being their old address, Renee and Phil Dwyer were no longer living there when the envelope arrived. And neither was Bella.

After seven years as an assistant baseball coach at Arizona State University, Phil had taken a job with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. It was the same minor league baseball team he had played for years earlier, back when they were the Jacksonville Suns. Phil was as thrilled about the new job as Renee was about living in a more tropical climate near the beach. So the Dwyers had quickly sold their house, packed up, and moved to Florida.

Naturally, they had notified their Phoenix post office of their impending move, and upon moving, further in-coming mail had been held up until notification of their new address was received. That being the case, the envelope for Bella had waited in a postal bin for two weeks before a bright yellow change-of-address label was slapped onto it and it was forwarded to their new address in Jacksonville.

Unfortunately, Bella hadn't made the move to Florida.

Bella had been in the middle of an internship at the time, and had remained behind in Phoenix. As soon as the internship was over, Bella's own plans would be leading her elsewhere. In the meantime, she had been staying with Samantha Larkin, a friend from college, who had kindly offered up her fold-out couch.

When the envelope intended for Bella had made it to the Dwyer's new Jacksonville address, Renee had fully intended to send it right back to her daughter at her friend's apartment. Somehow though, between receiving it and purchasing a larger manila envelope in which to return it, Renee had managed to misplace it. Calling Bella to notify her of her misplaced mail, and attributing its unknown whereabouts to the chaos of moving everything into a new home, Renee had promised to mail it off as soon as it turned up.

A week later, the envelope was still missing.

But the following week, it resurfaced amongst some placemats in a drawer. Renee immediately put it in the larger manila envelope, took it to the post office, and mailed it off to Phoenix.

The one thing it didn't occur to Renee to do was tell her daughter it was finally on its way.

The large manila envelope reached Samantha Larkin's apartment mailbox a couple days later, but sadly, Bella was no longer there. Only one day earlier, Bella had loaded up her car and moved out of the apartment, the city, and the state.

The reason for her move was mostly career-driven. Jobs in her chosen field were hard to come by in Phoenix and usually required two years' prior experience. Which left Bella to wonder how she was to gain that experience if no one would hire her without it.

But that wasn't the case in Seattle, she'd learned. The job prospects there were excellent. The city was continuing to grow, business was booming, and building was non-stop. Construction cranes were perched on emerging high-rise apartment and office buildings all over the city. More importantly, there were ample job listings for accredited personnel in Bella's field, often requiring no other prior experience than an internship.

So, Bella had decided to relocate to Seattle. At least for two years. After that, who knew?

There was an added bonus to living in Washington: Bella would be closer to her father.

Charlie Swan still lived in Forks, a few hours' drive west of Seattle, in the same house where Bella had begun life with her parents twenty-five years earlier.

After Renee and Charlie's divorce, there had been multiple moves with her mother. But Bella had returned to that childhood home in Forks for visits and had even spent her high school years there, living with her father.

Now, until she could find an apartment in Seattle, Bella had once again headed for her father and that childhood home in Forks.

And that's where Bella's mail finally caught up with her after her own cross-country travels from Phoenix to Forks...

*O*

"Bells? I'm home," Dad calls out as he walks in the door, returning from his shift at the police station.

"Hi, Dad. I'm in the kitchen." I give the spaghetti sauce a stir and turn on the burner beneath the pot of water.

"Sure smells good in here," Dad says, joining me in the kitchen and setting the day's mail on the counter. "Thank you for making dinner. I forgot how nice it was to come home to a home-cooked meal."

I smile. "You're welcome, but you'd better not get too used to it. You know this is only temporary."

"I know, kiddo, but I'll happily take whatever I can get." Opening the fridge, he grabs a cold beer.

"Doesn't Sue ever cook for you?" I ask, wondering about his girlfriend, who also lives in Forks.

"At her house. Not here."

I nod as he pops the top and takes a drink of his beer.

"It'll be a few minutes before I can throw the pasta in, so you have time if you want to change first," I tell him.

"Yeah, I'd like to get out of this uniform. Be back in a jiffy." He starts away but then turns back. "I almost forgot… You got some mail from your mom." He nods at the small pile on the counter.

"Oh, thanks."

As he heads upstairs, I move over to look through the mail and find a manila envelope from Mom, forwarded to me in Samantha's handwriting. It must have gotten to Phoenix right after I left. Inside is a note, folded around an elegant but travel-worn, ivory envelope.

Dear Bella,

I'm sorry it took so long to find your mail, but here it finally is!

Thank you again for being so understanding about our abrupt move. Phil is so happy with the new job, and our new house is a dream! It's just wonderful being near the beach and just a short walk from the community pool and clubhouse. I can't wait until you can come visit!

Let us know when you leave for Washington. I worry about you driving all that way alone. Good luck with the job search and apartment hunt in Seattle. I know you'll find something fast.

Love you and miss you,

Mom

I probably should have let her know when I left, but I figured things were stressful and hectic enough for them. This way she missed out on her worrying, and I was in contact with Dad anyway.

Setting the note down, I pick up the envelope she forwarded to me. There's a change of address label covering our old Phoenix address, and the return address is smudged, but the postmark is from Bellevue, Washington. Then I notice date. Holy crap! This thing was mailed a month and a half ago!

Opening it, I pull out a card with several smaller enclosures and began reading.

"Anything interesting?" Dad asks, startling me when he returns a few moments later.

"Oh. Um… Yeah..." I glance back at the card in my hand. "It's a wedding invitation… from Rosalie Hale."

"Little Rosie's getting married?"

"She's a year older than me, Dad. But yeah. She's getting married in a week and a half. In Seattle."

"You planning on going?"

"I don't think so. The deadline to RSVP has already passed, and I'm sure this was more of an announcement than an actual invitation. Rose had no idea I would be here."

His eyes narrow as he looks at me. "You didn't know she was engaged?"

"No. It's been a long time since we've been in touch."

"You two used to be such good friends."

"Yeah. But you know how it goes, things change, people grow apart."

He nods, still studying me with his cop's eyes. "You still ought to send your regrets, Bells. And maybe let her know you're back in Washington."

"I will. I'll do that tonight."

A/N: As always, I hope you'll share your thoughts. :)