~*~Emmett Was Right About 15 Things~*~
by Hatter of Madness

1. Emmett was right when he told Teddy that she needed a nickname

"What's your name?" he asked at PJ's birthday party.

Kids were throwing toys, making a mess, and there was lots of laughter and screaming. The little girl had big brown eyes and long blonde ringlets for hair. She had appeared after being put down for a nap, while Bob and Amy ran around trying to calm kids down before their parents arrived to pick them up. Gabe was still upstairs, sleeping in his crib, though none of the Duncans could fathom how. Quickly, they decided it was the last time they had a birthday party for PJ.

But Emmett had been roughly pushed aside by PJ so he and his friend, Ben, could shove crayons up their noses in the ensuing chaos. When he saw the little girl looking at the scene, her thumb in her mouth and a teddy bear on her arm, he approached her; anything to avoid the craziness that was a Duncan party.

"Thea," she said, removing her thumb from her mouth for a moment, then promptly putting it back in its original place.

"I'm Emmett," he said to her happily. "Can I call you 'Teddy'?"

Thea gave him an odd look, removing her thumb again. "Why?"

"I like it," he said simply.

"Okay."

Neither of them recalled it later, but from that day on, Thea no longer went by 'Thea'. She was Teddy Duncan, and whenever Emmett saw her, whether it be at the Duncan house or at the park, he would always say, "Hi, Teddy!" with a big grin.

2. Emmett was right about taking her to the park with him and PJ

"I want to go, too!" Teddy said the next year, when she had long given up her thumb sucking and instead took to pouting and arguing with PJ.

"No," PJ said.

"But I want to!" she said, stamping her foot between each word.

"You can come," Emmett said, trying to stop the fight. Really, he hated it when Teddy and PJ fought; he would have done anything to have a brother or sister that he was close to. His older brother was never home and frankly, Emmett wasn't sure he even cared about him. PJ didn't realize how lucky he was to have one of both. "It's not a big deal, PJ."

"But I want to play in the mud," PJ had said. "And Mom will never let her play in the mud."

"I can go on the swing," Teddy said. "I'm a good swinger."

"No, you're not," PJ said, "you get scared and barely go off the ground."

"Well, maybe now I'm a good swinger," she argued.

With no choice but to bring her, PJ and Emmett went to the park with Teddy in tow, with PJ immediately running to the biggest mud puddle he could find and Emmett started to go up the stairs to the slide. Teddy, however, was at the swings and was having a hard time getting up, so Emmett stopped and watched. Giving up, he crossed through the park over to her.

"Do you need some help?" he asked.

Teddy stared at him with her big brown eyes without saying a word. He helped her onto the swing and started to walk away, but realized that she wasn't going anywhere and was just sitting in the swing, kicking her legs as she pleased.

"Do you need some help?" he repeated.

Teddy started to say 'no', but changed her mind and nodded, so he started to push her in the swing, her shrieks of laughter filling the air. PJ gave him a dirty look from the mud, where he himself was getting very dirty, but Emmett ignored him. Truth be told, he had more fun with Teddy that day than he had with PJ long before, and he thought that he wouldn't have enjoyed himself as much if he had done anything else.

That was the day that Emmett decided he was going to marry Teddy Duncan, and the way to do it was to give her the best present ever. But he had to figure out what.

3. Emmett was right about getting her the perfect birthday present

Teddy was now seven years old and was getting ready to have her own birthday party. Hopefully, the Duncans thought, having all girls there would calm the scene a bit, as compared to PJ's birthday just three years before (they still hadn't had a party for him in their home).

Though Emmett wasn't exactly invited, since Teddy didn't want a boy at a party of all girls, he still showed up at the Duncan house, and Amy just assumed that PJ had invited him over so that he wouldn't feel left out in Teddy's festivities. In Emmett's backpack was the gift that he knew Teddy had wanted for the longest time: Howdy Puppy.

He had planned on giving it to her when he arrived, but he found that the girls were sitting in a circle playing a game of Truth or Dare. Since they were second graders, it was not the most exciting game ever played, but he couldn't help but watch for a second.

One of the girls, noticing Emmett, told Teddy, "I dare you to kiss Emmett!" and all of the girls cried 'ew' and made faces and laughed.

Teddy blushed bright red. "No way!" she said. "I'm not kissing him!"

Crushed, Emmett left the room quickly, not even bothering to give Teddy the stuffed animal that she had always wanted. If she didn't want to kiss him, why should she want anything he would give her? Why would anyone that cute or pretty want to do with him?

4. Emmett was right about Teddy being pretty

"Emmett, am I pretty?" Teddy asked one day when she was eleven.

Emmett was shocked at the bluntness of the question. "What do you mean?"

"You heard me," she said. "Am I pretty?"

He shifted uncomfortably. He found himself at the Duncan house more often than not, and at that moment in time, PJ had left the room to see about his parents taking him and Emmett somewhere. Emmett wasn't entirely sure where, nor did he care. But when PJ left the room, Teddy took it as an opportunity to ask Emmett the big question.

"Well...yeah, of course. Why?"

"Because, I told this guy Simon that I liked him, right? And he tried to tell me that since he's only eleven, his parents don't want him dating, but later, I saw him holding hands and sharing a juice box with Valerie Evans!"

"Oh?"

"I mean, right? What's so special about Valerie Evans? He only likes her because she had the box of crayons in the first grade, and because she always brings a jump rope to school for recess, and because, well, look at her!" She finished, sighing deeply. "I mean, the only reason he didn't like me is because I'm not pretty, right? What else could it possibly be? I'd be just as good as Valerie Evans if I had that crayon box and that jump rope and that face."

"Teddy." She stopped talking immediately. "Yes, you are pretty. You're, well...you're special. I think you're really, really pretty."

Teddy stared at him, as though she was contemplating his own beauty, then said, "I know, right?" and left the room.

Emmett was one million percent sure that he loved her.

5. Emmett was right about Teddy being his first true love

When Teddy was thirteen, she was, well...beautiful.

Emmett found himself wanting to spend more and more time with PJ, and not just to be with PJ. He wanted to be at the Duncan house all the time, just so he could see Teddy more often.

One day, when she had Ivy over, she was complaining yet again about the stupid boy Simon. What the boy didn't see in Teddy, Emmett didn't know. She was just so imperfect, but in the perfect way: She was insecure, and maybe her dimples were just a bit too big, but her hair was so shiny, and her eyes so big and brown, and she was so smart, and nice, and intelligent... And Emmett loved her.

He loved her just the way she was. He loved every little thing about her. He loved her, and despite PJ's protests of 'that's my sister', or 'you can't be serious', Emmett was not changing his mind.

He wanted to laugh with her, be with her, cry with her...

6. Emmett was right about understanding Teddy better than anyone else

"PJ's not here, Emmett," Amy said when she answered the door.

"That's okay," he said, "I'm here to see Teddy."

"Good luck," Amy said in surprise. "She hasn't left her room."

Ignoring her, he went down the stairs to the basement anyway, knocking on the door. "Teddy?" Emmett asked. The blonde girl had not left her room all day, and he was starting to worry about her. Spencer, the idiot that he was, had just broken up with Teddy because he had been cheating on her. What idiot would cheat on the beauty that was Teddy Duncan, Emmett didn't know, but he knew that he would never have done it, if he was lucky enough to have her. Which he wasn't.

The door finally opened. "What?" Teddy asked. Her hair was a major mess, her eyes were red, and her nose was stuffed up. She hadn't even changed out of her pajamas, and it was four in the afternoon. Emmett's heart fell. She was still beautiful in his mind.

"Can I come in?" he asked. Much to his surprise, she opened the door wider.

Crossing the room, he sat down on the chair and put her down on the arm. "You want to talk about it?" he asked.

"Not with you," she said. He didn't even let her words hurt him; she was angry, he knew, and upset. Most of what she was going to say, she didn't really mean. But just a second later, she whispered, "Sorry, Emmett."

She got up off the chair, said, "Could you please...go?" and went up to her bed, where she fell down, grabbing her pillow and sobbing into it. It was too much for Emmett to bear; he stood and crossed the room, sitting down next to her and running his fingers through her silken blonde hair. She stayed like that for a while, but then sat up and fell into Emmett's arms.

He kissed the top of her head, still running his fingers through her hair. They both knew that, in that moment, Emmett understood her pain more than anyone else would.

They never talked about that day ever again. It was almost like a lost recording that they never spoke of.

7. Emmett was right about Teddy's videoing skills

"Are you making another video diary for Charlie?" he asked one day.

Teddy looked up, her heart racing a mile a minute. "Oh, God, Emmett, you scared me!" she said. "What are you doing here? You know PJ's working right now."

"Yeah," he said, sitting down. "But I didn't want to be at home that much, and I didn't really have anywhere else to go." He thought for a minute. It was kind of sad that the Duncans were his only real friends. But no matter how much Teddy denied it, she was a good friend of his. They almost had as good as a bond as he did with PJ, or she did with Ivy.

"Yeah, I was thinking about it," she said. "But, I don't know. I don't know if my video diaries are actually any good."

"What are you talking about?" Emmett asked. "The advice themselves, or..."

"No, my ability to make a video," she said, sighing. "I know it's important for Charlie, but I don't think I'm good at it, not anymore."

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "Let's be honest. One day, I think you may very well be a famous director, or film maker, or something."

"Really?" she asked, stopping to think about it. It would be nice to use her hobby to make a living, she thought. "Well, when I'm a famous film maker"—she was very obviously picking fun at him—"I'll take you as my date to the film premiere."

"Really?" Emmett asked in surprise.

"Maybe. I don't know. We both know that the probability of me ever actually making it is slim to none." She didn't admit that that was the day that she knew she was interested in film making, though. The idea was very pleasant to her. Okay, Emmett could be an idiot, but he was right sometimes. And he was right in thinking that Teddy was talented, in more ways than one.

8. Emmett was right about Teddy being accepted at her dream school

"Oh my God!" Teddy yelled when the mail came.

Emmett was sitting on the Duncan couch, waiting for PJ to finish getting ready. They were going to go catch a movie with some of their friends before the spring semester of college started.

Teddy ran into the room, holding a letter from the office of admissions from her dream school. "Emmett!" she gasped. "It's from Boulder!"

University of Colorado, Boulder, was Teddy's dream university. She had told Emmett about it one day out of boredom when he told her he was worried about getting into college. Sure, he was passing high school, but his grades weren't exactly the best at times. He found out that Teddy was interested in Boulder because—why else?—it had film studies as a major.

"University of Colorado, Boulder?" he asked. She nodded, shrieking slightly. "Well?"

"I'm afraid. You do it!" she passed the envelope to him with trembling hands.

"Don't be afraid. You'll get in," he said. How could she not, what with her 4.4 GPA and amazing achievements? But still, she bit her lip nervously, watching him carefully open the envelope and take out the letter.

"Dear Thea," he read, as Teddy held her breath, "Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you of your admission to the University of Colorado, Boulder, for the fall semester, 2013..." Before he could finish, Teddy screamed, hugging Emmett out of excitement and taking the letter, rushing into the kitchen yelling, "Mom! Dad!"

PJ came down the stairs. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," Emmett said, shaking his head. "Teddy got her letter from Boulder. Are you ready?" Emmett smiled to himself as Teddy's excited voice carried into the living room. Teddy was so funny sometimes. What did she have to worry about? She was a shoe in to be valedictorian; of course Boulder would have accepted her.

9. Emmett was right about Teddy being valedictorian

"You're going to do great," he told her when she confessed she was nervous about giving her graduation speech. Being valedictorian, she was expected to give a speech in front of the giant crowd that gathered for the graduation.

On the night of Teddy's graduation, the entire Duncan family and Emmett sat in the front row, waiting apprehensively for Teddy's speech. As she was introduced, she crossed the stage in her blue cap and gown, with a new violet dress underneath with matching ballerina flats. Her hair straightened and long, framing her angular face, Emmett looked up at her, feeling absolutely in love with her all over again. Teddy looked beautiful.

"As this chapter of our life closes," she recited, "we look forward to a bright future. A few years ago, I was told that it'd be impossible to get straight A's in high school—thanks, Dad," she joked, looking at her family as the gathering crowd laughed. "But after pushing myself, I stand before you today as South High's valedictorian of the Class of 2013, and I only have my friends and family to thank—my wonderful parents, my brothers PJ, Gabe, and Toby, my baby sister, Charlie, and the best friends in the world...Ivy and Emmett."

Emmett was surprised to hear his name mentioned, but a big smile spread over his face regardless.

"As we say good-bye to high school and move onto bigger and better things, we are reminded of our common roots of Denver, of South High, of the best years of our lives. Let us never forget where we came from, and never lose sight of who we are. Thank you, Class of 2013."

Applause broke out, but no one was more proud of Teddy as Emmett was.

10. Emmett was right about Teddy finding someone to fill her life

Things hadn't worked out between them, Emmett knew, but letting Teddy find love was what was best for her. At Boulder, she had called him one night and said that she knew that Emmett still liked her—he didn't correct her and tell her the truth, that he loved her. But she said it didn't change her view of him. Amazingly, they managed to stay good friends despite it all.

And about a month after that, Teddy met a guy at Boulder named James, who she was absolutely in love with. She was hesitant—it was like Spencer all over again, but despite the fact that Emmett still loved Teddy, he hoped that this relationship would work out for her. He gave the couple his blessing, as Teddy still saw him like an older brother.

It was good that she had found someone, he reflected. She was so happy and enjoying herself. That was more than he could have ever asked for. But somehow, he just didn't like James. And he couldn't figure out why.

11. Emmett was right that something wasn't right

He found out what it was after they were dating for a while. Teddy was so taken with James; she wanted to even marry him one day. Emmett had told her that it was probably a good thing. After all, James made her so happy, in ways that other boys—himself included—never had.

But one day, Teddy showed up at his apartment that he shared with PJ in tears.

"Is PJ here?" she asked.

"No, why?" he asked her, too caught up in the tears brimming in her brown eyes to even start to worry about PJ's whereabouts. He had said something about a date that night, he realized, but it didn't matter.

"Because I don't want him to know," Teddy said, coming into the apartment.

"Why are you wearing a jacket?" Emmett asked. "It's May."

At that, she choked on her sobs, throwing the jacket off. There were deep bruises on her arms. As she was wearing a tank top, Emmett could see a mark in the shape of a hand print on her right shoulder.

"What's that from?" he asked, but he knew the answer already. James.

"I don't get it," she said, flopping down on the couch. "He said he loved me!"

"Sometimes people...lie," Emmett said, sitting across from her in a chair. He wished he had cleaned up that afternoon. Wait, what was he thinking? Why should he care about the cleanliness of the apartment when Teddy—Thea Ramona 'Teddy' Duncan—was sitting across from him, coming to him for comfort?

She just sat on the couch, trying her damnedest not to cry, but it certainly wasn't working. That was obvious when her mascara started to run. "How long has this been going on?" he asked. No response. "Teddy," he said gently after a while, "maybe you should tell someone...like the police, or something..."

"No!" she said. "No, they can't know!"

Emmett sighed. Teddy was being difficult, as usual. One of her quirks. He let her just stay by herself in fear on the couch, and ultimately, she fell asleep. He let her be, and when PJ returned, he stared. "Why is my sister here?"

Emmett had covered her with a blanket, just so PJ wouldn't see the damage that James had done. "Oh, no reason," Emmett said. One day, he knew he would report James for the creep that he was. Quickly, he made up a lie. "She forgot her key to her dorm room, and her roommate wasn't there, so I let her crash here for the night."

He would have done anything to protect Teddy.

12. Emmett was right that Teddy was lonely

She started showing up at their apartment with more and more frequency. She didn't care who she met there—whether it be PJ, Emmett, or both—she enjoyed the company.

"Is everything okay, Ted?" Emmett asked one night when she showed up, just minutes after PJ left for work.

"Yeah, peachy," she said. Her tone suggested something else.

"Teddy..." he started, but she interrupted him and sighed.

"I'm just...lonely, you know? I mean, Ivy's going to college out of state, and Charlie and Toby are too young to really understand what I'm going through, and I know I shouldn't, but I miss James, and sometimes Spencer, too, and my roommate, Jessi, she's never there. She's always out partying or clubbing or at her job or whatever."

"You don't talk to Alice or Skyler anymore?" he asked, shocked.

"Skyler goes to LIU, in New York," Teddy said. "And Alice moved away senior year." She sighed. "Emmett, I can trust you, right?"

"Of course, Teddy," he said. Hadn't she trusted him not even six months earlier, with James?

"I told Jessi about James," she said, "but I'm nervous, because, well, her dad's a police officer. And I'm afraid she's going to tell her dad about what he did."

"Why are you nervous?"

"He said, well..." She stopped, clearly afraid. "He said if I told anyone, he'd kill me."

"I promise you, that will never happen," Emmett said, looking at Teddy and being reminded of what he had lost those months ago when he suggested she started dating. He was right about his thoughts when he was young, the idea that Teddy was his true love. That hadn't changed, even after knowing each other all those years, and he didn't imagine it ever would.

13. Emmett was right about loving Teddy forever

Teddy showed up one night at their apartment for a party that PJ was throwing, but she never left Emmett's side. He held her hand—which she wasn't opposed to, since it was like a living hell just to try to squeeze through the throngs of people there—as they walked around the scene, laughing at their friend, Meghan, who was getting dangerously drunk. They were just thankful that she brought along her roommate, Tasha, to drive her home, as Tasha wasn't a big fan of drinking.

"Man, remember PJ's birthday party?" Emmett asked.

"Which one?" Teddy asked.

"The one where we met."

Teddy laughed. "Vaguely. Come on, Emmett, I was like, what, four? I barely remember what I had for breakfast!"

Emmett, too, laughed. "Well, let's just say it was nothing compared to this." The huge crowds of people seemed to be multiplying.

"I can imagine. PJ was only, like, six, right? Something like that?" Emmett nodded the affirmative.

"You wanna beat the crowds and go somewhere else?" he asked.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Maybe a movie, or something?"

"Like, a date?"

He hadn't thought of it that way. But the fact that Teddy did... "Sure, if you'd like."

She smiled at him. "In that case, you better take me to dinner instead. Just let me go home and get changed into something nicer first, okay?"

"You look fine as you are." She looked at him, then a slow smile spread over her face and she went out with him to his car. Oh my God, he thought, I'm getting a second chance with Teddy Duncan. They drove on the back roads, just enjoying themselves, with the top to Emmett's Convertible down and the wind in their faces, their voices carrying with the wind. Teddy's laugh was so beautiful. Emmett was certain he'd never love again.

14. Emmett was right that Teddy loved him, too

"Okay, confession time," Teddy said after they started spending more and more time together.

"Hmm?" Emmett asked.

"Well, actually, more like a question." He looked at her in confusion. "We've been spending a lot of time together, Emmett," she said, "like, a lot of time together. Pretty much every time we're both free, we have plans. Together. You took me out to dinner on a whim just because PJ's party was crowded. You let me crash here just because I was upset. You pretty much offered to kill James for me just because he was being stupid. You took me to see that band I liked just because I wanted to see them. You hate that band, Emmett. So just admit it: You still love me. And you want us to date."

"Well..." he didn't know how to respond to that. "What are you thinking?"

"Right now? I'm thinking, 'Why am I having this conversation? Why am I so stupid sometimes? Why does Emmett look like a scared puppy?'" He rolled his eyes at her. "'And why do I find that irresistible?'"

"Well, I look like a scare—wait, what?"

"You heard me, Emmett. I like the things that are going on between us, whatever they are. It's kind of fun having someone care about you this much."

Without either one of them officially saying it, Emmett and Teddy started a relationship that day.

15. Emmett was right about asking the question

"Someone looks insanely beautiful tonight," Emmett said on Teddy's twenty-first birthday.

Teddy blushed, smiling at her date. "And you clean up nice."

Emmett sat across from her at the restaurant they were at as the waiter came over to get their drink orders. Simultaneously they said, "Water." They were just so in tune with one another, something that Emmett really liked, and which fascinated him to no end.

They sat dining and talking for the rest of the night, long after they had finished their dinners. They got into an argument—not a serious one; they were just play fighting—about something silly. "I'm telling you, I'm never right about anything!" Emmett said.

"So not true," Teddy retorted. "You've been right about, what, fourteen times in your life?"

He rolled his eyes. "Can we make it fifteen?" He placed a bag on the table, gently pushing it towards her: Her birthday present. "Yeah, you're right in saying that I've been right fourteen times. So...go ahead." He nodded towards the bag.

She started to look through it. Each item in the bag was a representation about the fourteen things Emmett was right about.

First was a necklace with the word 'Teddy' on it; next, a picture of the two of them, plus PJ, at the park from when they were younger; the Howdy Puppy doll he had gotten her for her birthday all those years ago; a beautiful picture of eleven-year-old Teddy; a poem about young love that he had found on the Internet; a mix tape CD of the songs that Teddy listened to after her break up with Spencer; a lanyard from University of Boulder; a copy of her valedictorian speech; a paperweight in the shape of a heart; a box of band-aids with hearts on them (Teddy laughed at the gesture); a picture of the vacation that he, Teddy, and PJ had gone on; ticket stubs from one of their first dates; a picture frame with the words "I'M YOURS" on the edges.

"God damn, Emmett," Teddy whispered, laughing to herself. "How much did you spend?"

"Enough," he said, as her fingers found the last item in the bag: A piece of paper, on which were two words: Look up.

She obliged, seeing Emmett on one knee, a hand reaching into his pocket. "Teddy Ramona Duncan," he said; she had legally changed her name from 'Thea' to 'Teddy' when she was eighteen. "Will you marry me?"

"Oh, Emmett, you shouldn't have!" she gasped. He knew what she was thinking: He had wasted just a ton of money on her birthday gift.

"Don't be," he said, "I mean, I know it's not as special as buying a ring, but this is my grandmother's engagement ring. When I told her that I was going to ask you, she told me, one, to take care of you; two, to make you happy; and three, not to waste my money on a ring. She was going to give it to my dad, but my parents eloped. So...will you marry me, Teddy?"

Tears were lining her deep brown eyes and a slow smile—God, it killed him when she did that—spread over her face. "Yes."

OH MY GOSH THAT WAS SO LONG OH MY GOSH. I didn't mean for it to be that long, but I noticed the lack of Teddy/Emmett on this site, so I decided to change that. And well, it got lengthy. I meant for each situation to be short, but I got carried away. Hopefully this wasn't too smutty because I know it was... Please review? I've never written a Good Luck Charlie fic before, so be kind.

- Hatter of Madness