In a world where Renee Swan left her daughter Bella with Charlie when she left, Bella got to visit the nursing home every day with her dad, and in the evenings he made steak and potatoes until Harry Clearwater begged him to feed his child a vegetable. In a world where Bella was raised by Charlie, she maybe cooked or cleaned a bit more than the average kid, because her dad was so busy, but she wasn’t worried about paying the bills or reminding her dad when she had to go to the doctor. Bella got to be a kid, and she got to have a relationship with her grandparents before they died when she was in kindergarten. On those summers where she visited Renee, she saw how hectic her mother’s life was, although fun, and was relieved for the stability and boring nature of Forks.
In this world, she grew up playing with Leah, Seth, and Jacob and his sisters. She went fishing and spent weekends at the beach and got to scrape her knees hiking on a monthly basis. She went to school with all the kids from Forks and the Newton kid got over his crush on her in like a week, cause she wasn’t all that interesting since she played pirates with him in second grade. Bella’s best friend was Angela but Jessica was a close second, although the two of them had a more on again off again type of relationship. She and Eric game together, because once he and Mike had a fight and he had nobody to hang out with him for a month. Lauren is a frenemy that Bella loves to hate.
She is a klutz, but Charlie watches her like a hawk and usually catches her before too bad of a fall. Her grades are killer and when she’s thirteen Charlie takes Bella and the girls to Seattle for a painful day of shopping. (Bella didn’t want to either, but she wanted the right of passage and wanted to make her friends smile). Bella and Jacob become the best of friends after a particularly bitey spring and their dads are always off fishing together. (Leah, Rachel, and Rebecca are too cool for a while and Seth is too much of a puppy dog). Maybe they think about dating and maybe they don’t, maybe they’re best friends and don’t care. Well adjusted, happy, perhaps a bit prone to melancholy, depression, and insecurity, Bella is in a much healthier place when the Cullens arrive in early high school.
She doesn’t even get a chance to meet them.
Edward reported to Carlisle with some urgency after their first day in Forks that Chief Swan’s daughter may be his singer. There is no suggestion that he just kill her or test his resolve. Bella Swan is too beloved, too known, too surrounded and ensconced in the community. If she died or went missing, there would be no forgetting this girl. She had been here since birth. It didn’t matter that she has a quiet mind, Edward realized shortly after that Charlie’s mind is murky and hard to read as well, shrugs his shoulders because there’s something off with the Swans. But his possible singer? A slip up would destroy the town and likely expose his family.
The Cullens leave in the night. The locals blandly gossip that a better hospital in Alaska offered double for Doctor Cullen’s services. Life goes on, and Bella believes that the supernatural is just a myth or legend, like she hears about at the bonfires with Jacob and her dad. She decides she’s going to make Charlie eat more greens.
Edward and Emmett sleeping in the same room for the first time
Edward: Hey, you awake?
Emmett:Yeah
Edward: I just want you to know I hate you. And so does my dad.
Emmett: Well, that’s fine! ‘Cause guess what? I hate you, too. And this house sucks ass
Edward: Well the only reason you’re living here is because Rosalie finds you really hot and decided she wants to bang you. Me and my dad said we’d deal with the dumbass in the mean time
Emmett: Who’s the dumbass?
Edward:You
Emmett: HEY, YOU DON’T SAY THAT!
Edward: Shh! You’re gonna wake up my dad and get me grounded!
Emmett: Just shut up!
Edward: You and Rosalie are hillbillies. This is a house of learning doctors
Emmett: You’re not a doctor…you’re a pale white curly headed fuck
Edward: Oh, yeah?
Emmett:Yeah
Edward: I’m a curly headed fuck
Emmett: You better not go to sleep because as soon as you close your eyes I’m gonna punch you square in the face
Edward: I hope you stay still when you sleep because I’m gonna put a rat trap between your legs
Emmett: I’m gonna fill a pillow case full of bars of soap and beat the shit out of you
Billy Black saying “I’m down with the kids” is so cute I’m crying I don’t think Billy gets enough love he’s just this old man burdened with the task of keeping the secrets of his tribe and he does everything he can for the pack and he went through so much from losing his wife to his two daughters moving away and not visiting and having only Jacob to fall back on which I’m sure he hated because Jacob was so young and then Jacob runs off too because of his best friend’s daughter but he still has to hold it all together and is expected to be a pillar for everyone else I literally will not take Billy Black slander in my house
It was the second Mother’s Day since Harry died. The first she could stomach celebrating. She had made it a little over a year without him, and still didn’t know how she managed it.
The house was quiet that Sunday. Maybe she’d get a few hours of peace without Leah and Seth’s bickering, that’d sure be a gift. She quietly crept through the hallway, hoping to get as many minutes of solitude as she could.
She stopped at the start of the hallway. In her kitchen, that was supposed to be empty, were her children. Getting along? Making breakfast? No, that couldn’t be right.
“Happy Mother’s Day!” Seth waved a ladle at her with a grin.
“You’re dripping.” Leah grumbled, wiping off the mix Seth just spilled. “Happy Mother’s Day.”
“What are you two doing?” Sue asked as she walked into the kitchen, not certain this wasn’t some hallucination.
“Invading Russia,” Leah said solemnly. When Sue didn’t react she broke, “come on, no objections?”
“As long as no one gets hurt.”
“Ok, I think you’re taking this supportive mom thing a little far,” Leah laughed.
Sue had been trying to prove she really was an understanding mom after a small snafu a few weeks prior. Apparently saying, “yeah, I know. Pass the salt,” when Leah came out wasn’t the response her daughter was hoping for. So Sue was stuck trying everything, short of the matching tee shirts Facebook kept advertising, to convince Leah she really was ‘cool with it.’
“I am a supportive mom.” Sue smiled as she kissed Leah’s cheek. “Did you butter the pan first?” She asked Seth as he flipped a pancake.
“Yeah, Seth did you butter the pan first?”
“There is butter on the pan!”
“He buttered the batter.”
“So every pancake is nonstick,” Seth groaned.
“You’re so lucky you’re pretty.” Sue reached for a plate and Leah forked over two finished pancakes and offered bacon or sausage.
“I think you have enough food to feed an army, kids,” she said as she took a seat at the table.
As the words left her mouth the front door snapped open.“Happy Mother’s Day!” Jacob shouted.
