Hi Everybody! So sorry it took so long for this to come out. Shortly after I started this story I had my final exams and so I couldn't write lots. But now they're over and done with I can write! YAY!

So enjoy!

If someone told Bella that she would end up avoiding Edward, she would have them committed to a mental hospital.

Yet somehow that is exactly what happened.

It had been 2 months since Charlie left and her floor was covered in days. Monday by her bed, Tuesday in her sock draw, Wednesday at the pillow, Thursday in the closet and Friday, Saturday and Sunday seemed to be having a threesome in her shoe.

The walls of the Blacks' spare bedroom were still covered in stars and Barbie posters from when she was little and this was her room. Even though it was horribly childish and tacky, Bella couldn't bring herself to change anything. To her it was a reminder of when everything was alright; before vampires and Edward and when Jacob was just a little boy that idolised her not an enormous hulking werewolf.

She ripped off another sheet on her calendar; another day, gone. Charlie was still in England and she was still living with the Black's on the La Push reserve. The past two months had done absolutely nothing to fix the awkwardness between her and Jacob. It really had just made things worse. And that wasn't with the added complication of having a super-pissed off and over-protective vampire who can kill you with one finger for a boyfriend.

"How long has he been gone now Bella?" Billy asked as she served herself some eggs.

"2 months. He's not normally gone for this long."

Billy paused, remembering, "I remember he was absent for 1 month once. When he came back he was furious; his ramblings didn't make much sense."

"Ramblings?" Bella frowned. Charlie had never rambled, not around her anyway.

"Yeah, kept on talking about "stupid whales" and "bloody horses." His face brightened, "Oh and my personal favourite, "Dumbledore? More like Dumblefuck!" but he never ever elaborated beyond that."

Bella pondered the significance of those words, before giving up and continuing to munch her eggs. She wanted to get out of here before Jacob woke up and had a rant to her about how Edward was evil and vampiric and she shouldn't go to school because he was a mind-less killing machine that would try to suck her blood in front of a school full of kids. Even she wasn't that stupid! And she's the one that agreed to go out with the guy in the first place, jeez!

Hearing Jake's clomping feet coming down the stairs she quickly scarfed down the rest of her breakfast. Yelling out a fleeting goodbye to Billy, she ran out of the house, the door slamming shut on the beginning of Jacob's rant. Quickly turning on the car she looked at the time. 7:00. Oh how she hated Edward for being so persistent! Honestly every time she turned up early to avoid him, he would turn up at the same time the next day; pushing her into arriving earlier and earlier.

Grumbling under her breath, a rant about possessive vampire boyfriends and werewolf best friends, that seemed to be so continuous, she drove out of the La Push Reservation not bothering to beep her horn goodbye. Everyone would just hear the rumbling of her car and assume that she was leaving.

Her eyes caught sight of the yellow Porsche that was waiting for her at the end of the treaty border. Groaning and fighting the urge to slam her head against the steering wheel she stopped the car, rolling down the window.

"Hi." For once Alice's voice didn't match her pixie-like appearance. It was still bubbly and friendly but it had a hint of resentment in it making it frosty.

"What are you doing here Alice?" Bella asked.

Shrugging, Alice replied, "Edward wants to make sure that you are all in one piece whenever you come back from the reservation. I knew that you were avoiding him and so I told him not to come."

"And what happens if I'm avoiding all of you?"

"It was either me or Edward." Alice sighed before asking, "Why are you avoiding us?"

Charlie looked at the broken body in the bed; his poor son. Smoothing the mess of black hair that he had inherited from him, he kissed him on the forehead. The boy leaned into his touch, a smile spreading across his face; he looked so peaceful. Charlie smiled fondly before his look changed to anger. It was all his fault; Dumbledore's fault. But he knew he couldn't blame only Dumbledore and the Wizarding World. He was also at fault; he should have fought harder to keep his son, checked in on him more, moved to England even! He would do anything to protect his little boy.

"I'm sorry, Charlie."

Charlie turned to someone he held at least partially responsible for the condition of his son, "All the apologies in the world will not fix this wrong."

Minerva sighed, "I told him not to leave him with that family. But Albus was always very determined and set in his ways; he tried to find the good in everyone even when it was obvious that there was none."

"Do you think he will ever forgive us?"

Patting Charlie's hand she moved off the bed that she had perched on, "Maybe someday Charlie, but I think he already has. The real question is Charlie, will we ever forgive ourselves?"

Casting a lingering glance at the sleeping boy in the bed she left, "Let me know when he wakes up, won't you?"

Charlie nodded absently, his thoughts already occupied by his only son.

"Hi Harry. It's me, Dad. I'm sorry that every time I come to visit you, you always seem to be in the hospital wing. But I promise you Harry that when you get better you and I are going back to America. You can finally meet your sister, Bella; she is a lovely girl although her boyfriend gives me the creeps. He reminds me too much of the vampires that would get mentioned in Grandpa's old school books. Although I think they are muggle vampires, at least they act like them. Bella is currently staying at the La Push reservation, with our friends the Black's. I don't think they are at all related to Sirius, they are Native Americans, but still it would be funny wouldn't it? I would love to see the look on Wallburga's face if it turned out they were related to each other."

The tiny hand encompassed in his large one twitched. Charlie jumped up.

"Harry? Son, can you hear me?" Charlie frantically asked, hands on either side of his son's face. The heart monitor spell next to him continued to beat indicating no change.

"Harry?" But his son would not wake. "Harry!"

A hand on his shoulder stopped from him from calling again. It gently guided him to his seat and sat him down. "Charlie you've been here too long."

He didn't hear instead focussed solely on his son. "Will he ever wake up?"

Madam Pomfrey looked solemnly at the boy in the bed, "I don't know. At the moment he is in a healing coma." Looking at the broken man in the chair she continued, "I don't know. Not even magic knows these things."

She gently lifted Charlie out of the chair and guided him towards the door, "Go call Bella. I know you never told her about the situation."

"But -"

"You might as well because I am banning you from the Hospital Wing for the rest of the day."

The large oak doors slammed in Charlie's face, effectively cutting off any possible protest, his shoulders slumped and he turned around to have a conversation he really didn't want to have.

Charlie and Minerva apparated with a loud crack in the middle of Forks Forest, for a conversation that Charlie was dreading but knew that there was no other way to have this conversation apart from face to face.

"Is it alright for you to leave the school, Minerva?" Charlie questioned, "You are the Headmistress after all."

Minerva seemed to recognise his attempt to escape. Dragging him forward she said in her Headmistress tone, "Charlie Swan you are not getting out of this." She added, "Besides Harry is like a son to me, the school can cope without me for a few hours. I have utmost faith in Fillius; he is after all the Deputy Head."

Resigning himself to his fate, Charlie shook off Minerva's arm and continued forward proudly. If he was going to do this he would do so with dignity and pride; there was no way he would be ashamed of his son.

Knocking on the door of the Black residence, Charlie waited almost hyperventilating. How would Bella react to the news that she had a brother? It was only Minerva's comforting presence that prevented him from fleeing.

Jacob answered the door, "Uncle Charlie! I didn't know you were back in Forks! Come on in." He stepped aside, letting Charlie and Minerva into the house. "I'm Jacob Black ma'am." He said respectfully holding out a hand for her to shake.

"Minerva McGonagall. I'm one of Charlie's good friends from England." Her accent was strong; it almost caused Jacob to reel back in surprise. He hadn't expected that Charlie's guest would be from England. She paused deliberating for a moment, "Do you have any relatives in England? A good friend of ours had the last name Black also."

He shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Besides I'm sure there are plenty of people with the surname Black; it is quite common after all."

Minerva nodded; following Charlie as Jacob lead them to the kitchen and consequently where his father was.

Charlie was across the room in a flash and strangling one of his oldest friends in a hug. "Where have you been all this time?" Billy asked when they had pulled back.

"In England."

Billy rolled his eyes as he gestured for both of them to take a seat. "Surrey I presume?"

Minerva coughed, "Scotland actually."

Charlie whipped around, "Merlin I'm so sorry. Minnie this is Billy; Billy this is Minerva. She teaches at Sapientia College in Scotland."

Pleasantries were exchanged until with a pointed look and a sharp elbow from Minerva Charlie asked the inevitable question, "Where is Bella?"

"Finally decided that you are going to tell her why you keep on disappearing to England?" Upon seeing Charlie's resolve he continued, "Why now?"

"The…person…in England that I kept on visiting to go see may not survive. I wanted Bella to know before something bad and irreversible happened." Charlie stared at his shaking hands before continuing; "Besides I think she's mature enough to understand it now."

Billy couldn't help but issue a snort at this. "I'm just saying that she hasn't been acting the most mature recently. She and Jake had a fight and she's been avoiding him ever since."

Charlie frowned. Was she really ready for what he had to tell her?

Sensing his friend's distress Billy hastened to reassure him. "Tell her. She needs to know whatever it is. She's on her way to school; she should be there already."

Minerva looked at the time, "But it's only half-past 7! Surely school doesn't start for another hour at least."

"She's getting up earlier and earlier. I think it has something to do with the Cullen boy." Both were taken aback by the vehemence in his voice as he almost spat the name out. "You might want to talk to her about that," he said guiding them to the front door again. "Good luck Charlie."

"Thanks Billy." The "I'll need it" went unsaid. Waving goodbye to Jacob they headed to the secluded area of wood that they had arrived in so that Minerva could perform the tracking spell.

Charlie watched her fondly. "Sometimes I still wish I could do that. Take part in my heritage."

Minerva patted his arm not being able to say anything. She didn't know what it felt like to be a squib and cut off from your culture and heritage. Charlie gave her a small smile and the signal to apparate away.

Bella glowered looking immensely like her unknown brother as she did so. Alice had practically abducted her from the treaty line, bringing her to the Cullen's house, so that they could 'talk it out'. She didn't want to bloody talk it out! She had no idea what she was feeling, what she wanted and why the hell she was avoiding him so much. All she knew was that the Cullens made her strangely uncomfortable.

"I found her." Alice practically sung as they entered the house. The statement was completely redundant; they would have smelt her from a mile away, long before they arrived at the house itself.

"Bella." Carlisle and Esme both greeted her with warm hugs. Of all of them she felt the most comfortable around those two. She was pleased that nothing had changed between them at least. The rest of the family was different. They made her feel so uncertain, so insecure that all she could manage was a collective respectful nod in greeting.

As she met Jasper's eyes, he frowned, in confusion over her feelings. Good to know she wasn't the only one confused as hell over what's happening.

"Hello, Edward."

He stepped closer almost bolstered by this acknowledgement. "Can we talk privately?"

She nodded and with no small amount of trepidation followed him up the stairs, hoping that he wasn't wanting to talk in his bedroom.

Which he was. Great.

He grabbed her in a hug as soon as he has shut the door. For a second she melted into his embrace, the loving comforting feeling of him which she had missed so much.

Then her skin started to crawl. Goosebumps appeared up and down her skin all over her, she felt trapped. Something felt trapped.

There was a burning feeling in her veins, her skin felt tingly. Like something was hovering just below the surface begging for release.

And Edward was thrown across the room. He flew through the walls, breaking them into nothing but dust and rubble, before being flung out the window.

"EDWARD!" She ran frantically through the holes he had made trying to reach him, to assure himself that he was still alive.

She felt something impact her from the side and she was thrown to the ground. Twisting her head so that she could see behind her, she could see that an enraged Emmett was sitting on her pinning her to the ground while an angered Jasper stood guard. Carlisle was checking Edward over while Esme was being comforted by the girls.

She could feel tears pooling in her eyes which had absolutely nothing to do with Emmett sitting on her. This is not what she wanted to happen! She didn't know what was going on.

Just as she was about to start brokenly sobbing, her knight in shining armour appeared.

Her father on the arm of some strange lady who had a weird stick and was fast approaching the Cullens, a look of determination on her face.

Finally Charlie was home.

So review? :D Thanks for reading.