Chapter Twelve
Classified
Grace Cullen

"So you see, if that bullet really had gone through you, it would've ended up lodged in this back corner due to the power and close range of the shot." Charlie demonstrated as I finished putting together my substitute folder.

"I see." I nodded. "Good to know for the future." I giggled.

"I doubt anyone else would've looked so closely at the incident." He shook his head. "I was just driven because my kid was in the room and such a pretty woman was injured." He laughed.

"Aww, how sweet." I laughed with him.

Our laughter was cut short, however, by the sounds of shattering glass coming from down the hallway. Charlie immediately drew his weapon, but I jumped up and stopped him from running out into the hall. I could detect the unmistakable scent of another vampire.

"Vampire." I whispered quietly to him. "Stay right behind me." I ordered and we carefully left my classroom and headed in the direction of the noise.

At the end of the hall, the glass door to the records office was shattered and whoever was inside was digging through filing cabinets.

"Whoever you are, you need to leave, now." I called out angrily.

"I've got what I was looking for anyway." The red head from the field, Victoria I remembered, purred as she stepped out from the shattered door. She held a file triumphantly in her hand and I could easily read Bella's name on it. "Us girls know how to use our resources." She laughed before running out of the building.

"What are you doing?" Charlie asked me. "Aren't you going to go after her?"

"No, you're my priority." I shook my head. "The others can track her down." I told him as I pulled out my cellphone and dialed Carlisle.

"Grace, is everything alright?" He asked me, and I could hear the sound of rushing wind in the phone.

"I was putting together my substitute folder at the school just now when Victoria broke in and got Bella's file." I explained. "She just left a moment ago, so she should still be in the vicinity of the school."

"Esme and Rosalie caught her trail." He told me. "They lost her at the boundary line." He sighed. "What kind of information does she have?" He asked me.

"Name, date of birth, social security number, previous adresses-"

"Previous adresses? Like Phoenix, Arizona for instance?" He asked and I tensed up.

"Exactly." I agreed. "You don't think they would realize she was there, would they?"

"Laurent warned us not to underestimate them when he came to the house." Carlisle told me. "He wanted to disassociate himself and warn us. So I think we should take every precaution."

"Then I think we should all meet up in Phoenix." I told him. "Meet, put a new plan into place, and go from there. It does us no good to be so separated when we're not making progress."

"I agree." He responded. "Can you and Charlie meet us at the airport?"

"Yes, we'll be there as soon as we can." I told him before saying our goodbyes and hanging up.

"We're going to Phoenix?" He asked me.

"Can you?" I asked, not even thinking about his job and responsibilities.

"Yeah, I'll say it's a family emergency." He nodded. "Bells made quite a show at the station, so I think they'll buy it easily enough." He explained as we rushed out of the school and to my car.

We stopped at his house so he could shower and change out of his uniform quickly before getting back on the road towards Seattle. Within minuets, he was sound asleep in the passenger seat. Carlisle called to tell me the next flight wasn't for several hours, and so I slowed down and took my time getting to the airport so I could let Charlie rest.

I was also terrified to introduce Charlie to my family as my mate. He's shy like Bella and sometimes that can come off as being reserved and intimidating with him. Also, he's human and that's a major issue in a house full of vampires. I love him, but I know it will take some time to have my family warm up to him. And Bella being involved with Edward now, it seems so overbearing to have two humans introduced to the family in one day.

"I fell asleep?" Charlie suddenly stirred, rubbing at his face.

"Yes." I giggled at him.

"Well why did you let me do that?" He teased me.

"You needed the rest." I smiled at him. "You had been working for what? Twelve hours at least with only a small break for food and a shower?"

"Yeah, about." He shrugged.

"You shouldn't work so hard. I understand you feel responsible for Forks, but you have to value your health as well." I cooed.

"I'm fine. I used to work like this all the time before Bella came. I hardly ever left the station." He chuckled. "But, priorities change." He smiled sweetly at me.

"They do." I agreed and kissed his cheek quickly before he could tell me to keep my eyes on the road.

We arrived at the airport only a moment later, and I pulled into the parking lot next to Emmett's Jeep.

"You realize the moment my family sees us we'll be outed, right? Are you ready for that?" I asked him.

"Ready." He smiled widely, kissing me quickly before climbing out of the car.

I just shook my head as I grabbed my bag and followed after him, easily keeping up. We entered the airport and found our way to the waiting area where my family was waiting for us. Everyone's, save Carlisle's, eyes went wide when they saw us.

Charlie suddenly caught me around my waist and pulled me to a stop. I was about to question him, but I realized he had stopped me from walking in front of a woman with a baby stroller.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." I apologized.

"It's fine." The woman laughed easily and thanked Charlie before pushing the stroller along on her way to the nearby gate.

"Nervous?" Charlie chuckled in my ear and I jabbed him in the ribs before continuing to walk towards the others.

"Grace." Carlisle greeted me with a tight hug. "We were all so worried." He told me, and I knew he was talking about himself mostly. "Chief Swan." He greeted him with a firm handshake and I rolled my eyes, causing Emmett and Rosalie to laugh.

"Charlie." He shook his head.

There was a long awkward pause. No one knew what to say.

"So how long have you two been shacking up exactly?" Emmett broke the silence.

"Emmett!" I scolded him. "Don't be so crude." I shook my head.

"But seriously, how long have you two been dating? And how did you manage to keep it from all of us?" Rosalie asked.

"A couple of months." I answered and they looked shocked entirely. "My walks and hunting trips were not walks and hunting trips a majority of the time." I frowned. "I hated lying to you all, but I didn't see a choice in it. However, now that Bella is a danger magnet, we have no choice in the matter."

"She's my daughter." Charlie nodded, and Emmett and Esme laughed at his expression.

Suddenly, the same woman Charlie had caught me from crashing into cried out behind us. A hooded man had snatched her bag, causing her to fall to the ground and knock over her stroller. As the man passed us, Charlie tripped him and knocked him down as if it were natural instinct to him. I stood in awe as he handcuffed the man and stepped back to let the airport security take him away.

"Charlie? How did you-"

"Hold on." He told me and jogged over to the young woman and baby. He spoke with her only a moment when he handed her bag back to her, and after checking the baby was alright he came back over to me. "Everyone's okay." He nodded, settling down as if nothing had happened.

"Are you kidding me?!" Emmett laughed loudly. "Dude that was awesome!" He cheered.

"Emmett." Carlisle, Esme, and myself all hushed him.

The security guards came back with Charlie's handcuffs then and thanked him for his quick reaction after checking his police credentials. I was floored, watching him in his natural demeanor and seriousness about his job was new to me. A new wave of respect and love washed over me as he offered me a small smile when he was done with the guards.

"No problem." He shrugged. "Between school shooters, car accidents, and a operation of my officers getting wiped out...taking down a purse snatcher was a nice break." He chuckled.

"I'm sorry about your officers, Charlie." Esme cooed. "Carlisle told us Grace was so worried because you were supposed to have been with them."

"I was supposed to be. And thank you, it's never easy losing someone on duty but it's even harder when you know you can't be truthful with the families." He sighed. "Right now, I just want to focus on making sure my daughter isn't their next victim." He nodded his head.

"Of course." Carlisle nodded. "We should get going, the flights boarding any moment now." he directed and we all followed he and Esme to the gate.

I sat by the widow seat while Charlie took the aisle. Carlisle and Esme were in the row across from us so it was easier to talk while Emmett and Rosalie sat in the row just behind us. I was actually surprised about how much my family wanted to get to know Charlie. He, Esme, and Carlisle had a nice conversation while Emmett would sporadically ask Charlie about being a cop or questions about Bella. I think he was really warming up to the idea of having another 'tough guy' around the house and getting a new little sister.

By the time we touched down in Arizona, the family seemed to really like Charlie and my heart swelled in happiness. I had been alone for so long and to finally have someone to present to my family as my mate was important to me, and they had all handled the surprise wonderfully. I was suddenly curious as to what I had been so scared about.

As we were exiting the gate, Edward met us and immediately threw his arms around me tightly.

"Edward?" I questioned him, still hugging him back of course. "I thought you were tracking James?"

"I was but I'm an awful tracker." He frowned as he pulled away from me. "I caught a flight as soon as Carlisle told us to all meet here. I was near Chicago."

"Well, calm down a little bit before we go to meet Bella, Alice, and Jasper. You don't want to be too wound up." I sighed.

"I'm just worried." He shook his head.

"You and me both." Charlie chuckled easily as he came over and took my hand in his.

"Chief Swan." Edward greeted him, somewhat awkwardly and I couldn't help but laugh at the interaction.

"Sorry." I apologized when they both looked at me funny. "I get that the situation is a little odd, but Edward it's not a crazy concept that I can have multiple people in my life that love me. It's been you, me, and Emmett for a long time. Charlie is not going to disrupt that peace." I teased him.

"I know." Edward smirked at me as we all began to walk to the waiting area Alice messaged us they were in. "It's just new." He shrugged before catching up with Emmett.

"He'll be fine." I told Charlie. "I think he's just a little weirded out. I've been the single cool mom for so long now-"

"But now you're the 'in a committed relationship and happy' cool mom." Charlie laughed. "There's nothing wrong with that, Grace." He smiled down at me happily.

"Thank you." I smiled back at him.

"What do you mean she's gone?" Edward growled at Jasper and I quickly rushed to step between them. "They lost her." He panicked.

"Calm down, everyone." I told them. "What is going on here?"

"Bella slipped away from me somehow." Jasper explained. "I walked her to the restrooms and apparently there was another exit. She's already left the airport and I can't track her in the sea of people. Her scent is already gone." He worried.

"Why would she leave the airport?" Charlie asked himself mostly. "There has to be some kind of ulterior motive."

"Charlie, your daughter is missing, how are you so calm?" I asked him.

"Because I'm a cop. I have to look at this like a cop would or else I'd be of no help to anyone. So, has anything happened that you can think of that would make Bella want to get away from you?" He asked Alice and Jasper.

"No." Alice shook her head. "She talked with her mom last night and seemed a little upset after, but other than-"

"Her mom?" Charlie questioned her. "What was the phone number?"

"It was a phoenix area code." She responded.

"That wasn't Renee that called." He shook his head. "She's been in Florida for months now."

"But it was her voice. She asked for Bella." Alice shook her head.

"There's no way it could've been Renee." Charlie stated firmly.

"Then who did Bella talk to?" I spoke to the group.

"Easy, a Phoenix number and Renee's voice? Who took Bella's file and knows her previous address?" Charlie frowned at me.

"Victoria." I gasped.

"Yeah, and it looks like she told her boyfriend where to find Bella's mom." He shook his head. "He probably broke in, found no one home, and used an old home video or something to get to Bella."

"Okay why did no one tell me Chief Swan was such a badass?!" Emmett cheered and Esme quickly hushed him for me.

"Is there anywhere she might go that you can think of?" Charlie asked Alice quickly, not even batting an eye at Emmett's comment.

"The ballet studio from your vision." Jasper stepped in. "Bella recognized the drawing you did of it yesterday. Maybe that's why you saw it?"

"Then we'll start there." Carlisle nodded.

"There has to be ten different studios in Phoenix." Edward shook his head. "How do we know the right one?"

"Well, it's a good thing Charlie was a hands on long distance dad." I laughed.

"It's on the corner right down the street from her old house. I wouldn't let Renee take her to the one she wanted because I was afraid she would forget her. It was an easy walking distance home for Bella." Charlie backed me up.

"Then lets go." Edward nodded and we all quickly sprung into action.