Back on track apparently.

Hope those of you sticking with me are happy ;)

I'm even surprised with myself, since I was camping with my family for most of the time. But yay!

I don't own Twilight.

I love you Katie... XOXOXOXO

Exhausted, Charlie rubbed his eyes, taking a swig of his sixth cup of coffee. He'd been at the station since he'd awkwardly left the Cullen's house earlier, going through paperwork, trying anything to distract himself.

Originally he'd driven home. Thinking to call Renee and tell her all about the plans for Edward's funeral, about Bella and how they wanted to honor Bella at the service. He wanted to cry to her over the phone and have her comfort him. But he'd chickened out at the last minute, pulling away quickly and driving to the station. He didn't want to be home, in that house, all alone. It was possible that he would go crazy if he went in there.

When Renee had first left, he went through a brief period of time where the thought that he was insane. Getting drunk every night didn't help either, but he could swear that he could see a ghostly image of her wondering around the house, with a baby Bella in her arms. She would scold him about keeping the house clean and being drunk all of the time.

He was terrified that if he went home that he'd find the same haunting things. Bella, cooking at the stove or doing laundry. Reading a book in the backyard. Complaining about his eating habits. Ghosting in and out of the house as if she were going to and from school.

He shuffled paperwork around on his desk, hiding behind the boxy computer monitor hoping it blocked everyone's view of him. When he'd first gotten to the station everyone had been staring, sympathy clearly written on everyone's face. They'd each been over to give their condolences and offer their assistance to help with anything that he needed. He'd just mumbled something about the Cullen's taking care of it. They took the hint and realized that he wanted to be alone.

But he could still see their eyes on him.

He really couldn't put it off any longer, he realized, seeing that he had in fact gotten through all of his backlogged paperwork. He sighed, rubbing his eyes again. They burned. He couldn't remember the last time that he'd had a full night of sleep. He considered going home and cracking open the bottle of bourbon that Billy had gotten him last Christmas, forgoing his usual Vitamin R.

"Chief?"

Charlie's eyes popped open to Katie standing hesitantly on the other side of the desk. Her head was down, her brown hair falling in front of her face, so much like his daughters did, that he almost broke down and cried. The only difference was that Katie's hair was a tad bit shorter and maybe two shades lighter. She played with a random lose string on the sleeve of her tinker bell hooded sweater nervously.

He sucked in a breath, trying to make sure his voice sounded stable. He didn't want to scare her or make her feel bad for approaching him. "What do you need Katie?"

"There's a couple here to see you." She said, finally bringing her eyes up to meet his. "They asked specifically for you to help them."

Glad for the distraction, Charlie smiled at her. "Send them on over." He said, leaning back in his chair, hoping this would take a while. She nodded and went to go get them.

When she came back around the corner, she was leading both a man and woman his way. They were clinging onto one another, the woman had a manila envelope clutched to her chest, and her eyes were puffy, as were the man's.

Charlie knew that look.

That was the look of a terrified parent looking for their child.

He stood up to meet them, holding his hand out to shake with the other gentleman. The other mans grip was firm and he looked at Charlie with a small tinge of hope in his eye. "I'm Charlie Swan, the Police Chief of Forks. What can I help you folks with?"

"Thanks for seeing us Chief, we really appreciate it. I'm Greg Biers and this is my wife Jenny. Our son has been missing for a few months and we'd hoped that if we brought you a picture you could maybe check into it for us?" Greg looked at him sadly. "We heard that you also have a missing child and we'd hate to take up your time with another, but thought that maybe if you came across anything in the search for your daughter you could let us know."

Charlie's breath hitched. They had obviously not heard anything about this morning. He motioned toward the seats at his desk. "Have a seat." He moved back to his side of the desk and sat back down. "Tell me everything."

Jenny leaned forward, her tired looking face begging him to find her son. "A few months ago, our Riley went missing. He was attending his last year at Seattle University. He hadn't returned any of our calls. One of his professors called because he'd missed classes and then missed the final. He was calling to see if there had been any kind of family emergency, because Riley had never missed a class. We called his dorm and his roommates didn't know where he was. We started to worry." A small tear slipped down her cheek. She reached into her pocketbook and grabbed a tissue wiping her eyes. "We called the police and after searching for a little while, they found his backpack down by the docks. They said that it was all they found. No sign of a struggle or anything. They searched the surrounding area, even the water, but came up with nothing."

It was clear that she couldn't continue between sobs, Charlie looked toward Greg. "What makes you think he could be all the way over here?"

Greg cleared his throat. "We're not sure. When we first moved out here from New York, because of my job transfer, we actually stayed in this town for a year before moving up to Seattle. Riley was in middle school here and made a ton of friends. He resented us and argued with us when we uprooted him again. We thought, maybe if he did run away, even though he was older, that he would have run away to here." He shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

Charlie nodded. "I'll keep an eye out for him. Do you have any posters that I can hang up?" Jenny nodded and held the manila envelope out to him. He took it and emptied the envelope out on his desk. Hundreds of fliers spread over the desk. Each had large words "Have You Seen This Boy" with Riley's name and face on them.

He looked at the two parents, understanding how they felt.

He would take down Bella's signs… and replace them with Riley's.

Charlie stood and held his hand out again. As Greg gripped it, Charlie shifted his eyes to look at Jenny. "I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to help you find your son."

It was around six when he finally threw in the towel, and stood from his seat, stretching. He was hungry and the powdered donuts on the other side of the station weren't cutting it anymore, they'd been sitting out for much too long and had a bit of a crunch to them, even after dipping them in the much too strong coffee.

He pulled on his jacket and grabbed Riley's folder, being sure to secure everything together with a strong rubber band. He'd printed out every article he could find about the kid on the internet. All of the reports about the disappearance, the many sports related awards that he'd acquired and any other time the kid popped up in the system. While he'd never been picked up for doing anything against the law, he did have a few outstanding speeding tickets.

Charlie knew that the information he'd collected wouldn't bring him directly to wherever the kid was, but at least it was a start.

He nodded to Katie as he passed the front desk and she sent him a small smile, neither of them saying anything.

Deciding to put off going home just a little longer, he made a quick detour to the diner. Inside, he was again met with looks of pity. His waitress gave him a quick hug and had given him his usual order, a double bacon burger and a piece of cherry cobbler, on the house. He'd thanked her, and had bolted from the place as quickly as he could.

Driving home, he wondered how long he could handle this.

All he wanted to do was forget. Pretend that she was still living with her mother or something.

A hard thing to do, he realized, as he rolled up in front of the house and stared at her truck in the driveway.

Grabbing his dinner he got out of the car, slammed the door, and sighed. Maybe it was time to move on, retire and get the hell out of dodge. Or at least just get out of the house. There were too many memories here, too many ghosts.

Making his way up to the door, he was shocked to realize that the screen door was slightly ajar. He stopped in his tracks. It was possible that when he had rushed out this morning, God… was that only this morning…? That he hadn't shut it properly. It was unlike him, but he hadn't really been himself as of late.

Finding that the inside door was locked, he searched for his key and unlocked it, swinging it open and hesitated. Something felt off. Or maybe it was just him. He signed, stepping over the threshold and made his way into the kitchen, surprised to find that the empty pizza boxes that had previously littered the counter top were now gone, the entire kitchen spotless. He threw his dinner, now forgotten, onto the kitchen table and paced.

"It's all a bad dream." He muttered to himself, rushing up the stairs, his weary body taking them two at a time until he reached Bella's bedroom. Without a moment of hesitation, he slammed it open.

A body lay buried under the blankets, tangled brown hair splayed over the pillows. His heart nearly stopped.

Stepping over the hole he had left in the floor, he dropped to his knees beside the bed and reached out to touch the figure that lay in bed. Praying that it was her.

Mumbling something, the figure rolled over to face him.

"Renee?" Charlie spoke softly, shocked to see her laying there. He noticed the tear tracks that covered her stressed face and the pained look that she held while even in her sleep. What was she doing here? He'd spoken to her only this morning. He traced her cheek gently with his fingers, unsure if he should wake her or not.

The decision was out of his hands when her eyes fluttered open at his light touch. At first she seemed confused, but then a real smile graced her face and her eyes lit up. "Charlie…" She sighed, leaning her face into his hand.

He adjusted himself and moved to sit beside her on the bed. "What are you doing here?"

She avoided his eyes, her gaze sweeping everywhere beside his face. "Um…" She sounded embarrassed. "I told you I was coming back for Edward's funeral."

Charlie rolled his eyes, using his hand to direct her face to look at him straight in the eye. "And I told you that I would let you know when it was. What's really going on?"

Renee sighed, sitting up in the bed. She positioned herself so that she was leaning her back against the headboard. She sat silently for a moment, twisting her hands together nervously. "I think I left Phil."

Charlie snorted. "You think?" He felt a pang of hurt run though him. Had she spoken about leaving him so nonchalantly?

She shook her head. "He just didn't understand how I felt! How upset that I've been. He just wanted everything to be fine and it's not!" She exclaimed, reaching over to grab onto his jacket. "We got into a huge fight when I told him that I was coming back here. I just couldn't take it. I don't need this from him right now." A tear slipped from the corner of her eye. "I just needed to be with someone who understands."

Charlie's breath stuck in his throat, his mouth going dry. While he was elated that she felt that she could come to him, he couldn't put off telling her the truth anymore. He wasn't ready to tell her the news, but then again, would he ever really be? Biting hard on his lower lip, he took both of her hands in his and looked her square in the eyes.

Renee understood immediately what he was going to tell her. There would be no other reason for him to look at her like that. "No." She whispered, shaking her head slowly from side to side. Her lower lip quivered.

Charlie sighed, forcing himself to be strong enough for the both of them. "After I spoke you this morning I found a few things hidden underneath the floorboards. And I knew…" He looked out the window. "I knew right away what she did. I called for a search party and they found a few things around First Beach that have lead me to believe that she jumped from the cliffs."

Clenching her jaw, Renee snapped. "How do you know Charlie? Did you just give up?" Snatching her hands away from his she jumped out of the bed and began pacing the room. "Maybe she just dropped something while she was walking around! You gave up on your own daughter so easily Charlie? How could you?" She raged, staring at him accusingly. "I'm her mother. She was in my womb for nine months. I would know if she was dead!"

Though it pained Charlie to hear what she was accusing him of, he let her scream. He had the same feeling too. That feeling deep down in his gut, he would know in his heart if she was dead. It was the one thing that had kept him going for weeks. He watched her swing back a few more times before standing up and stopping her. "Renee… we found a scalpel and her sweater was covered in blood. She slit her wrists before she jumped from that cliff. And Jacob found her sneaker in the water."

Renee didn't move, didn't breathe. She stared up at Charlie as if not understanding the words that poured from his mouth. When the color drained from her face, he guided her back to the bed, sat himself down and pulled her onto his lap. He wasn't sure if it was for her comfort or his own. She buried her head in the crook of his shoulder and didn't say a word, though it wasn't long before he could feel her tears begin to soak through his shirt.

He ran his calloused hands through her tangled hair, smoothing it behind her ear. It had been so long since they had been this close. Even when he had dropped her off at the airport a few days ago she had only just given him a quick hug goodbye. A small peck on the cheek. Now her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck.

He was a man of few words and he didn't know what else to say. However he couldn't deal with this kind of silence from her. She was always the one to make him talk. Unable to deal with her silence, Charlie kept talking.

"I stopped by the Cullen's to tell them the news, but Jake was already there and he already told them. They want to do something for Bella at Edward's funeral. I don't know what, and I would prefer to stay out of it and just let them take care of it. I think they would know what she would want better than I ever would. Although if you want to call Esme and Alice and work something out…"

"Charlie, shut up." Renee mumbled into his shirt. Her arm loosened slightly from around his neck and she cupped his rough cheek with her hand. "I'll talk to them tomorrow. We'll figure it out then." She held his gaze, searching them, not knowing what she was really looking for.

Their gazes stayed locked for what felt like forever until Renee finally broke it, and buried her head back on his shoulder. Charlie was left wondering what in the world had just happened, until he felt her warm breath on his neck, her lips grazing softly against his sensitive skin.

His brain almost short circuited, his pulse skyrocketing. It took him a moment to form a coherent thought. No matter how much he wanted her, had wanted her since she left so many years before, he knew that this was wrong. Just as she began to place small kisses along his jaw line, he reluctantly pushed her away.

"Renee, we can't be doing this. You know it's not what you want." He said, choosing his words carefully. Charlie wanted to at least let her know that it is something that he'd wanted.

Her eyes pleading, she ran her hand through his hair. "I need this, we need this…." She took a deep breath, hoping that he would understand. "I need you."

Renee's whispered words were breaking him down. He closed his eyes, battling with himself. The death of a child usually broke apart marriages, at least, that's what he'd heard and sometimes seen. Could Bella's death really have the opposite affect for a marriage that had been dead for almost twenty years?

Probably.

Renee leaned back toward him, whispering in his ear. "Please Charlie…"

Throwing caution to the wind, he figured that there was nothing left he could lose. Charlie said nothing as he changed positions, laying her down gently on the bed. Looming above her, he looked at her, really looked at her for what felt like the first time.

Yes, she was older and looked so tired. But she was still the most beautiful person he had ever seen. He'd been on only one date since she had left him, and it had been a complete disaster. There was no way that he could be with anyone else. He supposed that was where Bella had gotten her stubbornness from where love was concerned.

Even with what felt like the world ending around them, Renee smiled up at her ex husband. "I never stopped loving you Charlie, not really. I just wasn't mature enough to realize it…"

She would have continued speaking.

Charlie silenced her with his lips.

So... yay! When I was three, my mom left my dad, taking me with her. Not once have I ever thought of them getting back together, and to tell you the truth, even the thought creeps me out lol. But I think Charlie and Renee were meant to be. He always seemed so sad in the books when Bella describes how he never changed a thing about the house. And I never thought he should be with Sue... especially so soon after Harry's death. So... there you have it. Maybe it's' something buried deep within me for my weird dad and flighty mom to get together, I'm not sure. Deep down, is it always a child's wish to see their parents together?

I'm not sure. But I hope that you agree with me... getting them back together like that ;) I think they need each other.

Check me out on facebook at Megan Sheridan Dziegelewski... or check out my "original story" over on ... I'm under SheridanDz

Reviews make me smile like crazy and they also make me update much faster.