I want to be clear that this story does deal with character death, and the impact of the loss on family and friends. If you aren't okay with it, maybe you should skip this story.

July 30th, that meant that there were 2 weeks left. Two weeks until I married the love of my life, Edward Cullen. The reality of this had been sinking in lately. Of not only our matrimony but the fact that I would be a real Cullen in both name and body. We hadn't set a date for my transformation yet but as long as I had my way it wouldn't be too long after the wedding. While I had no regrets over this and hadn't changed my mind, my chest still panged with sadness at the thought of never seeing Charlie or Renee again after I changed.

I wasn't able to see Renee before the wedding seeing as it was so soon and she lived too far away. Charlie on the other hand I still had some time with. It was with this desire to spend time with my dad that I found myself in his cruiser with him headed to Seattle. Charlie was trying to sell my truck but he wanted to get it running first, the poor thing had finally died on me (Edward claimed to know nothing of how it died. Though strangely it went shortly after I agreed to him buying me a new car once it died). I told Charlie I would accompany him to a shop in Seattle that specialized in classic car parts and repairs. It would be about an 8 hour round trip- plenty of time for father-daughter bonding and making memories.

I spent yesterday at the Cullen's, another sunny July day. Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle had formed a huge loose square in the Cullen's expansive yard and played catch while Esme, Alice, Edward and I watched and chatted. I was (as always) mesmerized by watching them all in the sun, as well as watching the four playing catch performing impossible maneuvers in order to catch the balls that were thrown way too high or wide. Watching them be themselves- vampires completely uninhibited by watching human eyes- would never get old for me. The whole group of them were going hunting south today while Charlie and I ventured north to Seattle. They hadn't done a group hunting trip in a while and everyone seemed excited for it. Edward was a little uneasy as he often was when we were separated but he recognized my need to spend time with Charlie and was going to use this time away to the fullest.

Charlie and I set out at 8am that morning so that we would make it back by dinner time. The drive to Seattle was long but enjoyable. Charlie and I alternated between conversation, comfortable silence and singing along to songs on the radio on the nearly four hour drive there. We arrived in Seattle just before noon, thankfully the shop was close to the edge of the city so getting to it didn't add much to our travel time. Charlie had called ahead and requested that they hold the part for him so he was in and out of the shop in minutes, this left us with plenty of time for lunch.

The place we went to eat was way more modern than anything that Forks had to offer. The menu was pretentious with stupid names for common food items but at least the food was good. Charlie got the usual burger and fries and I got the turkey sandwich with fries. After a brief half hour lunch and bathroom stop we were on our way again. We loaded up into the cruiser and began our drive home.

"It's chilly today." I commented as I got into the car and pulled my sweater around me, a cold front had moved in overnight and today was drastically colder than the day before had been. Yesterday I had sat out in the backyard of the Cullen's in a short sleeve t-shirt watching them play baseball as a pleasant breeze blew through the trees. The temperature had begun to change by dinner and it was almost freezing overnight.

"Good thing you brought that." Charlie said gesturing to my sweater.

"At least it's a lot warmer here than Forks was this morning." It had still been near freezing when we set out this morning.

"One nice thing is that it will be the perfect temperature to work on the truck when we get home. Not much worse that working outside in the sweltering heat." Charlie said as he pulled onto the highway.

"You're going to do it tonight?" I asked, surprised. We wouldn't be home until dinner time, I assumed he would want to eat and then relax after working all day.

"Yeah I've got a busy week at work, I want to get the truck done tonight if I can. I'm hoping this is the last part I will need," he patted the part next to him. "we'll see. If it starts, then perfect. If not then I will have to keep investigating what's wrong with it."

"Well I will start dinner when we get home so you can go straight to working on it" I said.

"Deal." Was his response, then we sat in companionable silence for a few minutes.

"How are you feeling about the wedding?" He asked eventually, glancing at me sideways.

I sunk in my seat a little bit and groaned slightly "Stressed." Was all I said.

He waited for a minute and then asked "About?"

"Everything. The attention. Alice going overboard. Mom's disapproving looks and possibly words... The attention." I said.

He laughed "You said that."

"Yeah well, I mean it twice as much as everything else." I grumbled.

"So, not the groom then?" He asked.

"No. Everything but the groom, I think." I said.

"Well that's all you need then, don't worry about anything or anyone else. It will all work out in the end." He told me and I nodded. A few more minutes passed before he asked "What about the honeymoon? Has Edward let anything slip?"

"Nothing. He's a brick wall. No one else will tell me anything either. Another reason I'm stressed." I said.

"I'm sure he is taking you somewhere truly special, that's why he doesn't want to tell you. Keep it a surprise." Charlie said.

"Uh huh." I said not convinced.

"You don't trust him?" he asked me.

"No, I do. The Cullen's just have a bad… theatrical streak." I said trying to think of the right words to encapsulate them "I especially worry if Alice had anything to do with it."

"Ha. Yeah, I can see why you'd worry." He said, he'd spent enough time with Alice to understand my concerns.

Before he could ask me any more questions about me I pounced on him with a question of my own "So what's going on with you and Sue Clearwater?" I didn't actually know for sure if anything was going on with them but I had my suspicions. And my hopes.

Charlie spluttered slightly before composing himself "Wha- who told you anything was going on with Sue and I?" He said looking over at me eyebrows raised.

"No one." I smiled innocently. "I just noticed that you've been going over to her house to 'help' an awful lot lately. And you sure do mention her a lot more than you ever used to."

"She just needs some help since Harry died! I'm not allowed to help out a friend?" He said, very defensive.

"Of course you are dad!" I laughed "You're allowed to be more than friends too, you know. It would be good for both of you." He made a very harrumph-like noise but didn't comment further. I waited a little while before I added "Plus I liked the sound of the way you said 'Sue and I'."

"Oh shut up Bella." He said and hit me playfully in the shoulder while I laughed, I did see a small smile playing at his lips though and I heard him mutter something about 'high school gossip'.

We drove in companionable silence again for half an hour before I decided to break it with more neutral conversation. "What about Jacob? Has Billy heard from him?" I asked and my chest twinged with pain just from speaking about him.

He sighed "Nothing. No sightings, no calls. Nothing. I seem to be the only one worried about the kid, too." He sounded angry.

"I truly don't believe anything bad happened to him, Dad. Jacob makes his own decisions; he will come home when he's ready." I said.

He gave me a searching glance before looking back at the road "Do you know where he went, Bella?"

"No Dad, I wish I did though." I said to him.

"Do you know why he left?" he asked.

It was my turn to sigh "Not for sure, but I think he left because he doesn't agree with my decision to marry Edward. He left shortly after we sent out the invitations."

"Why wouldn't Billy tell me though if that was the case?" he asked.

"My guess is that he doesn't want you to feel like he's blaming me for it." I said.

Charlie was quiet for a minute before he said "Poor kid. I hope you're right Bells and that's all it is. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I dismissed it as nothing and then something terrible happens to him."

"I really do believe that's all it is Dad. But I'm worried about him too. I feel terrible that I made him feel this way." I said.

"No Bella, it's not on you. You have to do what's right for you even if it isn't right for him. He's responsible for his own happiness, not you." Charlie said.

I didn't know what to say right away but eventually I settled for "Thanks, Dad."

We continued on with small talk for the next hour and a half before we ended up in gridlocked traffic on Washington State Route 8. "Doesn't look like we'll be getting home by dinner after all…" Charlie said peering down the highway.

"Does it go on for a while?" I asked.

"A long while." He said and sat back rolling his window back up. "Can you see any exits coming up?" he asked me but we were in the middle of a bend to the left and I could see nothing but the van in front of us.

Charlie turned the radio to a local station and in the 20 minutes it took us to get to where we could see the next exit sign we had learned that this went on for miles. There was a serious accident involving a tractor trailer that was blocking all lanes, everyone was being forced to detour off an exit 40 or so miles ahead of us. At this speed it would take hours just to get to the detour.

"Screw that." He said. "Feel like taking the scenic route? If we get off at the next exit we can drive through the Capitol State Forest then get back onto Route 8 in Alma. Should take way less time."

"Scenic route!" I exclaimed raising a fist into the air as high as I could in the cruiser trying to keep this a positive experience even though at this rate we wouldn't be home until dark. He laughed but agreed. It took yet another 20 minutes for us to reach the exit that would lead us into a small town and then into the forest. From the off ramp I could see how much traffic there was ahead of us and it just stretched into the distance beyond where I was able to see. I couldn't even see the accident.

We quickly drove through a tiny little town that didn't even have a sign with the town name on it and were soon in the forest. Scenic didn't even begin to describe this drive, it was surreally beautiful. This drive really encapsulated the beauty of the Pacific Northwest with its lush green forests and the occasional waterfall beautifying the landscape. It was this greenery that had disturbed me so much after coming from the desert but it truly was beautiful, just in the opposite way that Arizona is.

The wildlife was abundant too. Hawks sat in trees looking for prey; rabbits foraged under ferns away from the watchful eyes of those same predators. We saw a large herd of deer weaving their way through the densely packed trees away from the small back road we traversed. As we got further into the forest I noticed that the land to the right of the road began to slant upwards and the road to the left began to slant down forming what appeared to be a ravine down the left side. This just added to the beauty though as there was often small waterfalls trickling down on my side of the road into small unseen pools below.

We were driving for maybe an hour when out of no where, an absolutely massive bull elk stepped onto the road from the hill on the right side of the road. It stepped its full body into the road which took up the entire right lane and half of the left. We were travelling 50mph toward this elk that just stood there staring at us leaving us no room to get by it and no time to slow down.

"Look out!" I shrieked as my dad slammed on the brakes and pulled the car hard to the left, I knew if we hit this elk we were done for, Charlie must have too because he tried to get around it but too much of the car went over the edge and it was too steep for us to recover.

The car seemed to plummet almost straight down at first before the hill sloped upwards slightly allowing the wheels to roll on the forest floor. Green flashed by us in a dizzying blur as Charlie struggled to regain control of the cruiser to no avail. "Brace yourself Bella!" he said as we continued flying down this ravine narrowly missing and slightly clipping trees. The ground was levelling out more, but then I saw it, a huge tree that had been ripped from the ground in a storm, its roots up to the sky. We flew towards this thing at an unbelievable speed.

Charlie managed to turn the car slightly to the left to where it almost looked like we might be able to clear it. Almost.

I knew only one thing before I was rendered unconscious, pain.

Thank you so much for reading the first chapter! I hope you stick around to see how the rest of the story plays out. Please review and let me know what you think of the story so far. Likes and follows are also always appreciated!