The Edge

The Cuckoos Nest

Summary: Charlie tries to make sense of what the Cullen's reveal to him about themselves.

"... normally we would have never revealed this to you. But we know how much stress it has been putting on Bella, and Alice informs us that 'you're cool', which as far as I can determine is a strong endorsement of your character," Carlisle finished, folding his hands neatly in his lap.

"So," Charlie breathed out slowly, blinking as he looked between the various occupants of the room, "you're all on drugs then," he decided.

It was the only logical explanation for what he had just heard. And, looking at them all now, he could see that they were all just as pale as Alice and Bella, they all had dark circles under their eyes, and when he had made room for Esme to enter the living room before him his hand had brushed hers and he had noted that she too had an unusually low body temperature.

"Dad," Bella began.

"You're a doctor," Charlie said looking at Carlisle distastefully. "People's lives are in your hands."

"Dad," Bella tried again.

But Charlie wasn't listening to her.

"And to get your children involved," Charlie continued shaking his head, his abhorrence clear in his voice. "I'm going to search your car."

"Dad!" Bella said loudly, her voice reverberating off of the walls. "The Cullen's are not on drugs, and you are not going to search anyone's car! Now please, sit down."

Charlie fell back into his arm chair, more from the shock of hearing Bella speak to him that way than from any real change of mind.

He stared at her blinking.

"Everything that Carlisle said is true," Bella began, walking over to her father. Her tone was now soft and gentle, completely understanding as she looked at his shell-shocked face. "I know it seems unbelievable. I couldn't force myself to really believe it at first either. I thought up all sorts of crazy explanations about radioactive spiders, and nanotechnology, mutant genes ... all sorts of crazy things. But it's true, Dad, it really is. The Cullen's are vampires ... and now, so I am."

"You're crazy," Charlie muttered lifting his hand to cover his face, using it to push his head to the side so that he didn't have to look at any of them.

Vampires didn't exist. Taxes existed. Bears existed. Evaporation existed. The fear of beds existed.

Leprechauns, however, did not exist. Yetis did not exist. Pixies and elves did not exist. And vampires, vampires certainly did not exist.

"I'm not crazy. None of us are," Bella said gently.

"Oh, yes you are," Charlie declared lifting his hand from his face just long enough to point a finger at her. "All of you," he said pointing his finger at the other occupants of the room. "Crazy."

"Bugs," Alice said softly, mindful of Charlie's somewhat fragile state. "You're going to have to show him. He won't believe us until he sees it. You know that humans have an amazing capacity for denial."

"Humans," Charlie choked out, glancing over at Alice. "It's 'humans' now, is it?" he asked incredulously, half-moaning the question. "Unbelievable!"

"Dad," Bella said trying to draw Charlie's attention back over to her. "Dad," she repeated, breathing in deeply when he finally looked at her again. "Watch," Bella said, her eyes holding his.

And then she disappeared.

Charlie blinked, his head immediately turning to the left and then the right, his heart thundering in his chest as he looked in front of him for any sign of his daughter.