Carlisle answered the door. His stressed expression changed to one of welcome, like switching the channel on the TV.

"Hello, Charlie," he said, looking appropriately abashed. After all, we were supposed to be in Atlanta at the Center for Disease Control. Charlie knew he'd been lied to. "Val" there was a certain strain to his voice.

"Carlisle," Charlie greeted him stiffly. "Where's Bella?"

"Right here, Dad."

"I'm going to let you do that" my mom said quietly walking to lean against the porch, I could her the strain that's been put on her by Jacob. I was grateful that Jasper couldn't feel my emotions, he had enough to worry about with Bella, he didn't need my emotions hitting him too.

Shame, anger, sadness... there was so much.

Charlie's blank expression told us how off Bella's voice was. His eyes zeroed in on her and widened. I read the emotions as they scrolled across his face.

Shock. Disbelief. Pain. Loss. Fear. Anger. Suspicion. More pain.

He then glanced at me but quickly returned to Bella.

"Is that you, Bella?" he whispered. I decided that I couldn't sit here, it was too intimate, and I had to make sure my mom was okay. I lightly kissed Rosalie's forehead before sneaking outside. Out front my mom was sitting on the porch, Esme was with her.

I was so focused on my inner turmoil that I didn't realize she left. They heard me approach, and turned around to look at me. "I tried" she whispered "but it's hard to keep a secret that he's seen"

I grabbed her and hugged her tightly allowing her to calm down. "it's not your fault..."

"you're still going to tell me it's best if I don't know, aren't you? Even Bella?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat "yes, it's safer for you. Not just in terms of fear but secrecy. If you knew then it would put all of us in danger and I cant do that. Just please trust that I know what I'm doing"

My mom sighed, her eyes staring into mine "I still don't think I've accepted that you don't need me as much anymore"

"I can tell Charlie about the wolves... about me. I... I wish this wasn't putting a strain on your relationship" I could hear what was going on inside but ignored it when I heard the doors open once more, this time it was Rose and Leah who came out, with Demetri. For once he didn't want Rose. I saw my mom's eyes widen, and flicker between me and him.

"hello Val" Rosalie said, handing me Demetri then standing next to me like she always does. Leah was on my other side, my left.

"Rosalie, Leah" she smiled but she couldn't look away from the baby in my hands or rather he looked almost toddler like. Nearly two.

"I can't tell you everything, but this is my-" I looked at Rose "our son." I then turned him so that he could look at my mom "Demetri, this is my mom. Your grandma"

"he looks just like you" she looked in awe. Demetri looked between me and my mom, then he leaned out for her to hold him. This seemed to amuse her as I handed him over. "acts like you did too"

He examined her seeing all the little details and engraining them to memory. Soon though he laid his head down on her shoulder content with his position. I glanced back inside... I was the alpha I had to fix Jacob's problem. I had to protect my pack and family; Charlie was a part of it, but I didn't want him to blame my mom.

"we got this" Rosalie murmured allowing me to go inside.

I got inside just as Bella declared Renesmee as hers.

Charlie frowned. "You gonna make me a grandpa so young?"

Edward smiled. "Carlisle is a grandfather, too." Charlie shot an incredulous glance at Carlisle, still standing by the front door; he looked like Zeus's younger, better-looking brother.

"And Val's a grandmother" Edward added seeing me stand next to Carlisle. Charlie looked at me I could tell he was trying to figure it all out. This was so confusing for him.

"you're keeping secrets too?"

I shook my head "you already know it... well part of it. I'm sorry Charlie but it was safer this way, I didn't even tell my mom everything. And the parts she did know I asked her to keep, no one was supposed to know about any of this..."

"you mean, you turn into a giant wolf too?"

I nodded; Charlie's eyes widened but then something happened that I wasn't expecting "you could've given me a warning... we had hunting parties."

"I know, but no one was supposed to find out. I mean we were deep in the woods"

"I'm sorry" I replied looking ashamed, I hated to do this but if I could keep everyone safe then I would try and manipulate Charlie.

Charlie sighed "I guess that does sort of make me feel better." His eyes strayed back to Renesmee. "She sure is something to look at."

Renesmee leaned towards him, and Charlie gasped. We all knew what he was seeing. Bella's eyes - his eyes - copied exactly into her perfect face.

Charlie started hyperventilating. His lips trembled, and I could read the numbers he mouthed. He was counting backward, trying to fit nine months into one. Trying to put it together but not able to force the evidence right in front of him to make any sense. I approached.

"it's best if you don't know everything. I promise, this is all to keep everyone safe."

Charlie swallowed and nodded. And then his eyes blazed as he took a step closer to Edward with his fists tightly clenched.

"I don't want to know everything, but I'm done with the lies!"

"I'm sorry," Edward said calmly, "but you need to know the public story more than you need to know the truth. If you're going to be part of this secret, the public story is the one that counts. It's to protect Bella and Renesmee as well as the rest of us. Can you go along with the lies for them?"

The room was full of statues.

"Charlie" my mom replied from beside Carlisle, she and the others had returned. He turned to look at her, obviously catching sight of Demetri. Charlie's eyes flickered back to me for a fraction of a second before landing on my mom.

"Did you know?" there was a slight accusation to his voice, about whether Jacob was right or not.

"I knew about Alex..."

"and Eve?"

"she was there when Alex first......" she trailed off. "I'm sorry Charlie, I had to protect her... I didn't do the best job because she still got hurt."

Charlie swallowed looking at me, I waited in silence hoping he accepted everything. Charlie nodded, "okay" he then glared at Bella "You might've given me some warning, kid."

"Would it really have made this any easier?"

Charlie frowned and knelt on the floor in front of Bella. Renesmee made some movement, but Bella held her back. Renesmee had more vampiric tendencies than Demetri, while she liked blood, Demetri who still had the same amount of Vampire DNA, didn't.

In fact, he's thought on many occasions how gross it was. Edward thought it was amusing that some of his only thoughts happened when watching Renesmee eat. I guess it was just gross enough to come to the forefront of his mind.

"Whoa," Charlie gasped, his eyes on her perfect teeth. "How old is she?"

"Urn..."

"Three months," Edward said, and then added slowly, "rather, she's the size of a three-month-old, more or less. She's younger in some ways, more mature in others."

Very deliberately, Renesmee waved at him.

Charlie blinked spastically.

"she's special, Charlie" I told him, then added the moment I heard a whine. I turned to look at Demetri "you are too" the previously still statues chuckled lightly.

Charlie looked back at Demetri then to me "Just what is your part in all this, Alex?" he asked, "Jacob said you had been lying too, for months."

I nodded.

"we're like him, sorta" Seth said gesturing to me and Leah. Charlie's eyes widened.

"it this what Sue was dealing with? Billy said she was having some issues with her kids"

"we've figured that out, Sue's okay now. And Seth's right, it involves a lot to do with the wolves"

Charlie shook his head rapidly "urgh, don't want to know, that's okay." his eyes landed on Demetri "is he like... her"

I nodded "yeah, a little different but he's like her"

"he looks like you"

"Woo!" Emmett suddenly boomed in his deep bass. "Go Gators!"

Everyone froze except Charlie who jumped. Charlie recovered, then looked at Emmett over his shoulder. "Florida winning?"

"Just scored the first touchdown," Emmett confirmed. He shot a look in my direction before looking at Bella, wagging his eyebrows like a villain in vaudeville. "'Bout time somebody scored around here."

Charlie was beyond noticing innuendos. He took yet another deep breath, sucking the air in like he was trying to pull it down to his toes. He lurched to his feet, stepped around me, and half-fell into an open chair. "Well," he sighed, "I guess we should see if they can hold on to the lead."