True moon

Chapter 12- Charlie's talk

"Hang on, Alice before you see Bella, I want to ask you a few questions..." Charlie started.

"Dad" Bella protested.

"Yeah, no problem, Charlie." I said easily, winking at Bella.

"Alright, c'mon into the living room, Alice" Charlie smiled warmly at me.

I followed Charlie into the living, careful to keep a normal pace. Charlie gestured for me to sit down on the red, faded seat and I did as I told. That was the thing with Charlie, you did as you told and he liked you. Don't cause trouble. Although Charlie didn't smell like Bella, he still smelt good but it was no problem for me- I could breath normally without any difficulty whatsoever.

"Alright Alice, where have your family and more specifically Edward gone? And don't give me any bullsh*t" Charlie ordered, sitting down opposite me.

'I don't know" I answered automatically.

"You don't know?' Charlie asked incredulous. "You don't know where your own family have gone?"

"Yes, that would be correct" I answered, as evenly as I could.

Charlie was a clever guy- unusually clever and very good at pinning you down, you couldn't avoid his questions and that made him very difficult to lie to so I had decided to tell the truth until it put our lives in danger.

"How come?" Charlie asked curiously.

Charlie must have noticed my face drop and a look of sadness wash over my face because his face turned apologetic.

"Listen Alice, I don't mean to intrude, honestly, I do this for Bella's sake not my own curioity" Charlie said.

"Yes, I understandit's just it's very recent so a slightly sore matter" I explained.

"Take your time" Charlie said, kindly.

There were two things I really respected about Charlie- one was his unconditional love for his daughter and his loyalty towards her. Charlie would- and did- hurt anyone who hurt his daughter and really tried hard for her. He knew that Bella had found it difficult moving to Forks and he beared that in mind. He cleared time for her- really tried. The psecond thing I really respected about Charlie was how genuine he was- he really meant what he said.

"I'll start from the beginning" I began. "As you know all our family were very close to Bella- especially Esme, Emmett and myself, so Edward's decision" I watched Charlie's face darken "upset us all deeply. Bella was like a sister to me" I expained "And I love her. I was devastated that Edward could be so selfish. He had really made promises and he knew all along that he never even loved her! He broke her heart" I exclaimed.

"Wait, he knew along?!" Charlie interrupted, furious.

I nodded.

"For Emmett, it was awful as well, and still is. He is no longer the cheerfull person he used to be. It is just like a repeat of his childhood-"

"What do you mean 'a repeat of his childhood'?" Charlie asked, puzzled.

"Well, as you know we are all adopted and when Emmett was a child he lost his siter through the adoption system- she was taken away from him- this hurt him more than he tells and Bella was like a sister of him..." I said.

I didn't really lie, the ony thing was that his sister wasn't taken from him, he was taken from his sister and that wasn't the adoption system's fault but it's similar.

"And Esme was absolutely heartbroken, Bella was a daughter to her. She loved her like a mother does. Esme and Bella were very close and for Esme being told that she had to leave her child behind was the worst pain anyone could inflict upon her....it casused many arguments and tensions throughout our family. Even Rosalie- who had never been that close to Bella- was furious at Edward."

I took a deep breath.

"There was so much arguing that it caused our family to split?"

"Wait what?!" Charlie asked, shocked.

"Carlisle had changed a lot. He had always had a very close connection with Edward but honestly we had expected a little more dissaproval from him, instead he seemed....indifferent about the matter" I continued.

"So your family has split?"

"Yes" I replied, sadly.

"Oh Alice" Charlie said, sadly.

"Rosalie and Emmett were going to university anyway so it wasn't a big difference for them in the sense that they wouldn't have been at home...but for the rest of us it was huge. Carlisle wanted everyone to leave with him but I put my foot down and refused."

Charlie looked at me proudly.

"And of course I bet that man of your's- Jasper, is that his name?- stood by you too?" Charlie said, with a smile on his face.

"Yes. He said that he thought it was inexcusable the way Edward had treated Bella and that he needed to learn some respected. He thought that Carlisle had dealt with it in the worst way possible and he refused to come with him. Carlisle had been furious and started threatening to leave us homeless with no money- which he could do because we were all homeless-I was terrified, Carlisle wasn't joking- but I refused to leave. Besides, it was my final year at school and I liked Forks high and the only reason we were going to leave was because of Edward's selfish reasons."

"I thought it was because of a better job for Carlisle"

"No, it was because of Edward not wanting to 'deal with it anymore'. I said that it would kill Bella but he just said that it 'wasn't really his problem'!" I fumed. "Then Carlisle said that he wasn't joking, if we didn't come with him they would leave us homeless and moneyless but I still refused. It woudl be better to be homeless than with them. And besides, I wasn't going to leave my best friend and sister in her time of need. And of course, Jasper wouldn't leave either. At this point Esme completely blew up saying that she didn't know who they was- because it certainly wasn't her and that she would never leave her children like that. She then gave us a key to a small apartment nearby and a purse with money and credit cards. The thing is, I am still really sad to leave because I have lost Rose and Emmett and our family is broken- I will most likely never see them again and most of all I am devestated that I have lost Esme" I cried.

"Oh, Alice" Charlie said, pulling me into an awkward hug. "We'll help you" Charlie promised. "You can stay here whenever you like, I'll be your honoury dad. You can eat with us, as can Jasper, and spend all of the weekends here. You'll never be alone" Charlie vowed.

"Thank you" I sniffed.

"No thank you for sticking by Bella" Charlie said emotionally.

"I wasn't going to just stand there and watch it all happen"

"You should be a cop, you know?" Charlie laughed, pulling away.

"Hmm, I'll think about it" I joked.

"Can I see Bella now?" I asked, hopefully.

"Yes, I think so. But remember the Edward situation is a sore one for her, so stay away of it and just try get her to focus on you not anything else. She's really upset, Alice, she hasn't been eating properly..."

"Of course" I nodded. "I understand. I'm sorry, Charlie"

"It's fine, it's not your fault. I understand."