(1) Katnis Swan: Lost

Chapter 30: Delayed

Bella shared a look with Katnis. "Ready?"

Katnis takes a deep breath and lets it out. "Just go upstairs and start packing. I'll talk to dad." she says.

Bella nods. "Okay."

Pushing open the door, they rushed inside, Bella running up the stairs. "Bella? Katnis? What's going on?" Charlie stood from the couch and walked out into the hall.

Katnis felt her eyes filling with tears. She knew it was necessary in order to keep her father safe. She just didn't want to leave him. "No, dad, it's not." she cried.

Charlie searched her face for a moment, then stepped forward. "Did he hurt you?" he accused.

"No."

"Break up with you?"

Katnis shakes her head. "Dad, we were never together, Cullen did nothing wrong. It was me. I - I need to get out of here, " she cried, walking passed him and up the stairs. "I need to see - to see mom. I miss her so much, dad. Please, just - just let me go say goodbye to her."

"I thought you liked him." Charlie says, following close behind her.

"I do but it's not about him. It's about me, about mom."

"Home...Katnis, your mom is..." he trails off.

"I know, dad." she walks into her room where she sees Bella packing a few of her things into an already half filled suitcase.

"You're not going to drive home right now. You can sleep on it. If you still feel like going in the morning, I'll take you to the airport." Charlie tries to reason with her.

"N - No, I'll drive, it'll give her some more time to think. And if I get really tired, I'll pull into a motel. I promise." Bella says.

"Bella, Katnis, I know I'm not much fun to be around, but I can change that. We can do more stuff together," Charlie says, moving closer to them. "Please, just don't go. I - I just got you both back."

Katnis turns to her father and cups his cheeks in her hands. She meets his gaze head on. "Dad, I am not leaving you. I'm coming back. I love you," she says blinking back tears. "I just need to say goodbye to mom. Dad, please, let me do this. I need to do this, for me."

~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

"Katnis, maybe I should drive." Bella says when Katnis pulls out of the driveway and down the road.

"I'm fine, Bella."

"I told dad I would drive."

"I know but I need to do this. I need to keep my mind focused on anything other than the look on his face." Katnis says.

"He doesn't hate you, Katnis."

"I hurt him, Isabella."

"He's afraid. He's afraid you won't come back."

"He should know that I would never leave him. I couldn't."

"After everything that you've been through can you blame him for wondering if you'll come back to him?" Bella asked.

Katnis looks over at her. She knew Bella was right bit she didn't have time to explain to her how truly dedicated she was about never leaving their fathers' side.

"Katnis, look -" Bella went to finish her sentence but the sound of someone on the roof of her truck caused her to scream. "Ahhhh!"

Suddenly, Edward appeared on the side of the truck."It's just Emmett. Slide over. " he says as he opened the door and slid inside, taking the wheel. "Alice is in the car behind us."