Little White Lie

Bella smiled, as she stood next to her bedroom window, watching Jared pace back and forth. Charlie was downstairs in the living room completely unaware of the troubled teen wolf outside. She could see he was talking to himself muttering god knows what, she wished he could hear what he was saying.

Jared had been elated when Bella had said she would have loved to move in with him, but there was just one problem. Charlie knew nothing about him. So, they had formed a plan that night. He was gonna formally introduce himself, to get the ball rolling as it were.

Bella sat down on her window bay seat, with a smile, wondering when he would come inside. As she sat there watching him a memory flashed in her mind.

Bella sat smiling contently leaning against Jared's bare chest. They were in the same meadow where she had given herself to him. She knew her father would be furious if he ever found out about them but right now she didn't care. All she cared about right then was Jared's strong arms around her.

"I wish this moment could never end. I hate having to return home, lay in my bed without you next to me, and wake to find you not there. Not even knowing if I would see you at all" Bella sighed as she leaned further back into his chest.

Jared chuckled, she could feel it rumble against her back causing her to smile. He placed a kiss on her neck.

"I know, I feel the same. I hate to watch you walk away from me into that house that is too cold for you. It's worse when I know how unhappy you are there."

Bella sighed, "What can we do? My father will never allow me to marry you. He would move me away first before anything could happen."

Jared stiffened slightly, moved her around so that he could see her face. 'Is she serious?' he thought.

"You want to bind yourself to me?" he asked unsure if he was really ready to hear the answer.

Bella smiled as she slowly reached up a hand and stroked his face.

"Jared, I have already given myself to you in every way. I would like to be called your wife but my father ..."

Jared silenced her with a kiss before she could talk further. Bella sighed into his mouth and pressed further into him. She twisted her body around and pushed him backwards. Jared was now laid on his back with Bella hovering over him. Their mouths moved in sync before Bella finally released his mouth.

"I greatly desire to be called your husband, so if it's something we both want then why should we need permission from your father? You know what he will say, so let's do this for us," he pleaded, looking into her eyes.

Bella thought it over before standing up and walking in the direction of her home. Jared quickly stands up and calls after her.

"Bella?"

She stopped, turned to him with a smile before walking back to him. As soon as she reached him she lifted herself up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss.

"Meet me back here in one hour, bring your chief or whoever it is in your tribe that binds people together as husband and wife," she said then turned around and left. leaving a gobsmacked Jared behind.

Bella was brought out of the memory by a strong knocking on the front door. She looked out the window and saw Jared was no longer pacing. Bella quickly shook the memory out of her head and walked quietly to the top of the stairs to listen.

Charlie answered the door and was surprised to see a very nervous looking Quileute young man.

"Yes, can I help you?" he asked in his gruff voice.

"Good afternoon sir, my name is Jared. I wanted to introduce myself to you," Jared held out his hand nervously waiting for Charlie to take it.

Charlie slowly held out his hand and shook it. His eyebrows creased as he took his hand back and watched the young man shift nervously from foot to foot. He knew of Jared from Billy, seemed like a good kid from what he had said.

"Yeah ok, now what?" asked Charlie.

Jared kept opening and closing his mouth, everything he thought of to say sounded stupid the moment he decided to say it. Bella could see Jared was stuck. Originally, they had planned for just him to talk to Charlie but now that he was here she could see he couldn't speak. Bella gathered what courage she had, took a rather deep breath and then walked as calmly as she could downstairs.

"Jared!" she called out excitedly. "You finally made it."

She hugged him whilst giving him a kiss on the cheek. Originally, Bella was going to kiss him on the mouth but quickly decided against it. Introducing her boyfriend to her dad was going to be embarrassing enough, that would have been mortifying.

Jared looked relieved but slightly embarrassed too. Bella guessed her cheeks were bright red as well. Charlie looked a little flustered at the display of affection from his daughter until everything started to click, Jared introducing himself, looking nervous, being at a loss for words.

Charlie moved aside for them, Bella showed Jared inside and he followed them. They made their way into the living room and sat down awkwardly side by side hands clenched together.

Bella's eyes remained glued to their joined hands whilst Jared stared at Charlie; with what Charlie thought was a look of fear in his eyes. Charlie sat in his usual seat, the recliner he used to rock Bella to sleep in when she was a little baby. Now here she sat all grown up holding hands with a boy in front of him.

"So ...…" he started, leaving room for them to explain.

Jared again tried to speak but again nothing would come out. Bella looked at him and almost burst out laughing. He looked so pale and scared. Eventually, she sighed, she could see he wasn't gonna be any help.

"Dad, Jared and I have been together for a while now and he wanted to meet you officially," she explained.

Jared cleared his throat and shuffled beside her a little to get comfortable.

"Well actually, there is another reason I wanted to meet you. I have come to ask for Bella's help and what I want to ask, kind of, requires your permission."

Bella turned to face him, her eyes were wide. She hoped he wasn't asking her dad for her hand. She loved him, yes, it was even deeper than that. However, she knew neither of them was really ready for that.

Charlie quirked an eyebrow, he was thinking the same thing that his daughter was thinking. Though he was hoping she was.

"Does it? Well then son, tell me what is on your mind," he said settling back in his chair appearing calmer than he was inside.

Jared had no doubt that Bella could hear his heart racing. Bella's heart was also beating really fast as she looked at him curiously. They had talked about Jared introducing himself but that was all. After they had talked about him meeting Charlie, he hated seeing her leave. With everything that they were remembering, he knew that being together would help them recover so much more.

"Well sir, my grandmother is visiting for a few weeks from another reservation. She has recently had a stroke and on her reservation, she wouldn't get any much-needed peace and rest. My grandmother is weak and unable to do a lot of simple things for herself, like cooking and bathing. The cooking part is easy enough for me to do but she would never allow me to help her bathe," he explained.

Both Bella's and Charlie's hearts resumed their normal beating rhythms, relieved. She knew he wanted her to stay and she couldn't decide if she was excited or nervous over the idea of living with him. Especially with everything she was remembering.

"I know I could ask many people on the reservation but the ones I could ask have so much on their plate already. My grandmother needs almost 24 hr care at the moment. I know Bella has to go to school and I work during the afternoons, there would only be an hour when my grandmother would be alone. So, if it was ok with you, can Bella stay at mine for a few weeks, it would really help my grandmother," he continued.

"I have a spare room for my grandmother and another for Bella. Plus it will be a nice quiet place for her to study with limited distractions. Also, I would really like her to meet my grandmother. As I said, it would only be for a few weeks sir," he finished hoping beyond hope this little white lie wouldn't come back to haunt him.

Both Bella and Jared waited anxiously for Charlie's reply. He seemed to be weighing all his options before finally leaning forward, ready to tell the loved up pair his answer.