In Another Life.

2. Monologue

Bella's P.O.V.

"Hey, Bells," Charlie was reading the paper, paying little attention to my mood, "How'd you sleep?"

How did I sleep? Not well, like usual. After the agony of Edward's memory had been reigned in enough to function, I had wrenched my body out of bed. I reluctantly stalked my way over to my rocking chair that was drowning in clothes, grabbed an outfit that I didn't even looked at, then stuffed my bag of toiletries under my arm. I headed for the bathroom, and once there, I grabbed my hairbrush and yanked it through my hair. I brushed my teeth for, probably, three minutes to long. Mindlessly, I got dressed in whatever it was that I had snatched off my chair, and stumbled my way down the stairs, into the kitchen. 

Trying to act as casual as possible, I hesitently answered his question, "Not very well."

That caught his attention, and he peered sceptically over the top of his paper. "You still aren't a very good liar, Bella." He mumbled something that sounded like, "That hasn't changed much," and continued at a volume meant for me to hear, "Are you having nightmares again?"

I was suddenly more uncomfortable then I had been in almost five months. In fact, the rush of emotion I felt was so overpowering, that I flushed light pink, burning my cheeks. Charlie noticed this as well, and his eyes seemed to pop out of his head. Who wouldn't notice? When a corpse starts to reanimate for the first time in almost a half year, who wouldn't become speechless? Or terrified for that matter.

That's another thing that hadn't changed; how embarrassed I get when I talk about my feelings with Charlie. He still didn't enjoy it much, either. "Yeah, Dad. I am having nightmares, they never stopped." I wasn't looking at him, facing the opposite direction, throwing my breakfast together. I didn't even have to turn my head to know that Charlie had his back to me, too. "Anyways, what are you doing today?"

The awkward tension in the atmosphere automatically eased. "Harry called. 'Said that Billy and him were going fishing up at the usual spot. I told him I'd meet them there."

He looked as if he had something more to say. "What is it, Dad?" I had completely forgotten about my breakfast.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. It was just a thought, anyways."

"C'mon, Dad. You can tell me."

"Okay," he was glancing at me---with a expresion like he was judging how stable my emotions were---out of the corner of his eye. "Have an open mind with me here, Bella, please?" Definitely watching my emotions. His eyes, and face, were pleading for me to  corporate with his answer. I just nodded once. "You haven't really been, er, talking to your friends much latley, and..." He suddenly broke off in the middle of a sentence, nervous.

"Spit it out, Dad."

"Okay, okay." He had his hands up in surrender. "You remember Jocob, right? Jacob Black? Billy's son?" I nodded again, but this time confusion was ajasent to my head motions. Charlie was starting at the ceiling, seeing something very far away, deep in concentration. "Well, since I'm going fishing today, with Billy and Harry, Jacob is free. His Dad was telling me that Jake would love to spend some time with you. I think it would be good for your, er... health, if you did something other than homework and chores for once."

He had started his lecture with a reddened face, cowering into his chair, and ended sitting strait and erect in his seat, with a confident expresion plastered across his features.

He took one look at my face, and amended his speech by saying, "Er, um... Take a day off, Bells. Call Jacob. Ask if you can go down to La Push. Jake will say yes, I'm sure of it. Then go have some fun." Charlie was proud of himself. He had his paper laid down in front of him on the table, and was leaning back in his chair, hands behind his head, with a smug grin spreading from ear to ear.

Quite frankly, I didn't think I had a choice anymore---given the look on Charlie's face, his posture, and the amount of effort he had put into his monologue. Before he passed out from the excessive energy he was exerting into this, I assured Charlie  that I would call Jacob Black.