Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Phantom of the Opera or Twilight. Only original characters and concepts are mine.

AN: Here I am with yet another Phantom story. I would like to warn my readers that I have not read the Twilight books (much to my sorrow), and am going off of the films and Wikipedia for my info, so for those who are avid fans and sticklers for the book canon, please don't get angry and leave scathing reviews or feedback if I'm wrong about anything specific. From past experience, I am going to gently remind everyone that if you don't like it, please feel free to go elsewhere. I won't hold it against you, and hope that anyone who dislikes this story will return to read another in the future.

For those readers who decide to stick with me on this story, please enjoy yourselves, and don't forget to review. Thank you.

PS: The lead female character's name is pronounced El-licia; like Alicia, but with El, instead of Al. Thanks!

Chapter 1: Starting Over:

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dad had pleaded.

"I'm sure. I've found a good job there, the standard of living is lower, and it's not that far from a city, so I can get stuff I can't find in town. I'll be fine."

That had been last week –now I wasn't so sure.

The drive up to Forks from my hometown in Oregon had been long, stressful, and lonely. Dad had offered to drive up with me and help with the move, but the movers had already gone up ahead of me, so there would have been no real point. Besides, Dad was just worried that the movers would take my stuff and run. I doubted that would happen, considering the chief-of-police himself was going to oversee the unloading of my belongings.

"Elicia, I still don't like the idea of you going all the way up there," Dad had said. "I can help you find a job around here."

That wouldn't be a good idea, and we both knew it. Things had been testy between me and Mom lately, mostly because I'd told off one of her brothers (my uncle) when he'd insulted me. He'd said I was lazy because I hadn't found a job after months of unemployment, and implied that I was leeching off of my parents, who were good, hard-working people letting me live at home while I job-searched.

Of course, that had pissed me off. Since I'd been getting the same lecture from him for weeks, I'd finally told him exactly where he could shove his comments. My aunts, uncles, and mother had been shocked, and had demanded that I apologize, but what for? They knew I wasn't a dead-beat mooch of a daughter, so what did I have to apologize for? It wasn't as though they'd tried to defend me or anything, and that particular uncle had always been an ass, so it was time for someone to stand up to him.

Sadly, there was a price to my showing a bit of backbone. When we were alone, Mom had flipped out and told me I had no right to insult her brother, and that I needed to say I was sorry. I flat out told her I wouldn't, and she told me to apologize or get out. My choice was obvious.

I had done a lot of searching over the Internet, and finally found a job posting that seemed interesting: administrative assistant to the chief-of-police in a small town called Forks, located way up on the western tip of the Washington peninsula. It would mostly be paper shuffling, organizing things, and probably getting his coffee or something, but the pay was good, the standard of living was low, and I was actually going to have my own tiny cottage to live in. So why shouldn't I go for it?

Eager and hopeful, I'd submitted my resume and application. A few days later, the chief himself, Charlie Swan, called me and said I could have the job if I passed a drug test, which could be taken care of when I moved up to Forks.

"I've already done a background check on you, and called a few of your references," he'd said over the phone. "You come up clean, and your former employers had glowing things to say about you, so I'm going to let you come up here, get your blood and urine taken, and let you get started. If things don't work out for you here at the station for some odd reason, I'll find you another job. You won't have to worry about a thing."

Well, that was reassuring, so I said that I would accept the job and head up there within a couple weeks. There was a cottage in Forks that had come on the market as a rent-to-own, so I'd be staying there. It was a small place, but since I didn't have much, that was fine with me.

A green highway sign went past, reading that Forks was the next exit. I pulled off the freeway and tried to follow the map I'd memorized before leaving home. In a few minutes, I was in front of the police station, and a tall, somewhat serious man in a police jacket, with dark hair and a moustache, came out to greet me.

"Elicia Fox?" he asked.

I nodded. "Actually, you can call me Ellie for short. Elicia is a bit of a mouthful."

He gave me a tiny smile. "I'm Chief Swan, but you can call me Charlie. You want to come inside, have something to drink? You must have been driving for hours."

I had been in the car for a while, but I didn't need anything to drink. "Actually, I'd love to use your restroom."

He actually grinned. "Okay, come on in. I can honestly tell you that the bathrooms are clean, unlike in other places. Plus, we can take care of that drug test."

Once I'd used the facilities and submitted my sample for testing, Chief Swan showed me around the station. It was small, and kind of rustic, but the people were friendly, and welcomed me to their community. I was invited over to a few of their houses for coffee, and even given a few pre-made dinners, like a tuna casserole, a lasagna, and a batch of BBQ beef brisket to take home.

"They knew you wouldn't be able to cook for a while, so their wives all made up stuff for you," Charlie said. "As a bachelor, I'm no cook, so I get to show you the ropes and give you a brief tour of the town."

After we'd made our way through the station, Charlie escorted me to my new home. The cottage was one story, with a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and study. To my relief, everything looked new, like it had just been refurbished, so I wouldn't have to worry about rusty pipes, unsound walls, and other unpleasant things that came with old houses.

The living room had all my boxes, and the movers had been nice enough to assemble my bed in the bedroom. The heavier furniture had been set in the right rooms, but not exactly where I wanted them, which was okay –all I had to do was arrange things to my liking, and unpack.

"Well, I'll let you get settled in," Charlie said, tucking his hands into his pant pockets. "You start work in two days. You know, give you time to unpack and everything. You work eight to five every weekday, and if I need you on the weekends, I'll try and let you know the day before. And, of course, you'll get overtime for the extra work. It's only fair."

"What about vacation days?" I asked.

He smiled. "To start off, I'll give you a week. If the rest of the officers get along with you, and you end up staying longer than six months, I'll make it two weeks and move up from there. How's that sound?"

I grinned. "Sounds good to me."

"For now, though, how about you come over to my place tonight?" he asked. "No, no, it's not a date; like I said, I'm a confirmed bachelor. My daughter and her husband would like to meet you, so it'll be the four of us."

"Sure," I said with a shrug. "What time should I be there?"

It was eight o'clock when I got to Charlie's house, and upon meeting his daughter and son-in-law, my first thought was, 'Wow, these people are a bit young to be married.'

Both Isabella and Edward Cullen didn't look a day over eighteen, and I had to remember that was the legal age to get married. They must have been high school sweethearts, and Charlie must have approved of the match, so I decided not to say anything.

And I had to admit, Bella was a lucky girl. Edward was a very good-looking guy with some nice features: high cheekbones, strong jaw, golden brown eyes, and some messy bronze hair that looked dashing on him. He was unusually pale, but it suited him.

As for Bella, the girl was sweet-faced, with dark brown hair and eyes, like me. She was several inches taller than me, though, and also very fair-skinned. When she moved, it was like watching a dancer, though when I asked if she was one, she said no.

The four of us gathered in Charlie's living room, with Charlie, Bella and Edward talking about the town, its people, and with them giving advice on places to go, things to do, etc. Charlie even provided a pad of paper for me to scribble things down on, which was handy.

As I wrote down their suggestions and tips, however, I could feel someone's eyes focused on me, but couldn't be sure whose they were. Every time I looked up, my three hosts would be looking elsewhere, so I basically spent my entire visit to Charlie's feeling like a bug in a glass jar.

By the time I left, I was relieved to be getting away from the eyes of my watcher. It was like someone was trying to figure out what I was thinking, but didn't want me to know it.

Getting back to my own place, I decided to turn in for the night. The unpleasant task of unpacking could wait for morning.

I woke to the sound of someone knocking on my door, pulling me from a very nice sleep. Cursing whoever it was, I got out of bed and opened the door to find Bella and Edward standing on my doorstep.

"Uh, hi," I said, embarrassed by my bed-head and baggy pajamas.

Bella looked just as uncomfortable as I did. "Sorry," she apologized. "We wanted to help you unpack, but I wanted to come later. Edward insisted that an early start meant that you'd finish faster."

She elbowed him in the side and whispered, "I told you we should have called first."

"Oh, I don't mind. And what Edward says is logical, I suppose," I admitted with a smile, "But I'm not even dressed. Would you guys mind waiting while I freshen up and get us something to eat?"

"We've already eaten," Edward said. "Go ahead. We'll wait in the living room."

"Okay." There wasn't much else I could say to that.

I quickly dressed, combed my hair, and had some of the tuna casserole that one of Charlie's officers had given me. The three of us then got to work.

Unloading a box full of dishware, Edward focused his mind-reading abilities on Ellie, and was relatively happy with what he found.

The five-foot, three-inch tall brunette was a good person with a good heart. There weren't many of those around these days, especially with a quirky sense of humor. Bella liked her, and since his wife had a good sense about things like that, it was good enough for him.

At least now he wouldn't have to use his power on her after today; Edward had seen her discomfort back at Charlie's house, and he knew that was his fault –it had been the only way to get a 'read' of her.

However, it was unusual for someone to actually sense whenever he tried to read their thoughts. That Ellie had sensed it was extraordinary, and Edward had an inkling of what her power would be if she were to be turned into a vampire.

'Not that I want her to be a new member of the family,' he shuddered. He wouldn't wish this existence on anyone, not even if they had a choice. 'But now that I know what kind of person she is, we can at least become acquaintances.'

They couldn't really be friends exactly –vampires didn't really have them, not when they lived forever and humans didn't. But they could at least have a few good times together, since Ellie worked for his father-in-law.

"Ellie, where do these go?" he asked over his shoulder, trying to untangle the dishes from their newspaper wrappings.

"Just set them on the counter," she called from the living room. "I'll take care of it later!"

Smiling, Edward caught a brief thought from her mind: Ellie had no idea how she was going to organize her kitchen, or the rest of her house, and would probably spend days trying to make the place feel "right." For a twenty-something-year-old woman, she was a bit scatterbrained when it came to organization.

'Alice would love her,' he thought, grinning.

But for now, he had to finish unpacking the dishes.

Unpacking goes a lot faster with three people, but somehow it went super-fast with Edward and Bella helping me. Seriously, those two had Superman speed or something, because we managed to get everything out of every box. True, I didn't have much in the first place, but I'd never heard of anyone taking less than a week to unpack their belongings, no matter how little they had.

By the end of the day, we'd finished moving boxes around, unpacking, and unwrapping my stuff. All that was left was for the boxes to be disassembled, the newspapers to be recycled, and the furniture to be arranged just right, and I'd be all set.

"We can handle the furniture," Edward offered, looking over at his wife. "It'd be no problem."

"Thanks, but I want to do it," I said, smiling. "I have my own little system of where I want things to go, and if it ends up wrong, the only person I have to blame is myself."

The Cullens disagreed and basically forced me to let them help move the bigger furniture. It was nightfall by the time my bed, desk, vanity, small dining table, and wardrobe had been arranged like I wanted. At least I could arrange the coffee table on my own.

I offered them some dinner, but they refused, saying they were on a special diet they couldn't go off of. After they had left, I realized that I had taken several breaks during the day to grab a snack or beverage, but Edward and Bella hadn't wanted a thing.

"That has to be some diet they're on," I muttered, microwaving some BBQ beef brisket and instant mashed potatoes.

That night, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

"Good evening, Ellie," a soft voice said above me.

Looking up from my paperwork, I smiled. "Good evening, Doctor Cullen."

I'd learned last week that Doctor Cullen was Edward's dad, and Bella's father-in-law. I'd gone in for a routine physical (always handy to do when working for the police, even if all I did was shuffle paper), and been introduced to the man who was, some claimed, the best doctor Forks had ever had.

I had to admit, he was a very skilled physician, and probably the best I'd ever dealt with. He was kind, patient, and willing to do everything in his power to make a person comfortable while he treated them. I usually didn't like male doctors examining me, but I didn't mind with Doctor Cullen. He kind of creeped me out with how eerily pale he was, but then, this was Forks; nearly everyone here was pale.

"I'm afraid the chief is a bit busy right now," I apologized. "Do you want to sit down for a bit?"

"No, no, I just wanted to drop off some reports," he said, handing me a stack of very full manila folders. "Sorry to be handing these to you so late in the day, but Charlie wanted these as soon as possible, or I would have brought them tomorrow morning."

I smiled and set aside the stack of papers. "No worries. I'll give it to him before I head out and have something to file tomorrow when I come in."

Doctor Cullen chuckled. "Going easy on you, is he? I'd have thought he would pile more work on you, given that you've been here a few months already."

"Nah, he's probably waiting to drop a huge, week-long project on me any day now," I joked. "You know how bosses are."

"Aw, you've figured out my secret plan," Chief Swan said from behind me. He'd been on the phone to another city's chief, and apparently just finished. "Now I have to come up with another one. How are you, Carlisle?"

Just then, the timer on my desk went of, signaling the end of my work day. Doctor Cullen (I couldn't address him by his first name, since I respected him too much) gave me a smile and headed to Charlie's desk while I got ready to head out.

"Ellie, do you want to come over Saturday?" Charlie asked me. "Sue's coming over to cook while Billy and I watch the game. She could use some company. You know, so you girls can talk about…well, whatever girls talk about when guys aren't around. She liked talking to you the last few times you came around."

I smiled. Sue Clearwater and Billy Black were part of the local Native American tribe, the Quileute. Sue's husband had died a few years earlier of a heart attack, and I could tell that she and Charlie were starting to create sparks between them. Sometimes, she'd pop over to his place, either to cook for him or keep him company. It was cute, watching them talk to one another and occasionally flirt.

Billy was hilarious –always cracking jokes, or making fun of his son, Jacob. I'd met Jacob once while he was dropping off his dad, and thought him to be as fun as Billy, but without the love of sports. It was strange, though, how Jacob seemed in top-notch shape for a guy who didn't believe in participating in physical activities. I'd noticed the hard muscles of his arms and shoulders as he rolled his father up Charlie's front steps, and I could see the outlines of a six-pack under his tank-tops. If I weren't eight years older than he was, I'd totally go for him.

But as much as I wanted to hang out with them, if only for Sue's home cooking, but I had something more important to take care of.

"Sorry, Chief, but it's time for my scheduled call home," I said. "Dad's orders. He wants every detail I can give him, and that usually takes a few hours. The long-distance phone bills are killing me."

Charlie grinned and leaned back in his chair as Doctor Cullen shook his head. "Well, as fathers, we know how that goes," Charlie replied. "Get to it, young lady. I'll see you Monday, bright and early."

Waving to them, I headed out into the cool evening.

AN: Well, hopefully I didn't mess the Twilight universe up too badly with this story. Erik will appear in the next chapter, and you'll just have to wait and see if he's a vampire or a werewolf. Thanks for reading, and please review!