This is a companion to A Mother's Praise, I thought that since Breaking Dawn is coming out soon and Charlie is sure to not be liking Edward even more than usual, that we could go back to when it all started. The day Charlie probably wished never happened. The day that Bella played baseball with Edward. Honestly, Charlie has every reason to hate Edward, but anyway, this is in Charlie's POV and it's about the part in Twilight when Bella is telling him that she is going to go and play baseball with Edward and his family.
I'm sure he rues that dreadful day.
Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. The dialogue in this story is part of Twilight, and not mine. This work is purely a work of fanfiction.
Charlie Swan was a simple man. All he asked out of life was some good fishing, and a good day's work at his job. All that changed when his daughter called him and asked if it was alright if she moved in with him. He was happy of course but also confused. Why would Bella ever want to move here? She's happy with Renee, he thought to himself. But he was very happy that he would be seeing his daughter more now, he loved her, but she always seemed so distant from him. His daughter's impending arrival also brought a barrage of new, more parental, thoughts to Charlie, which thrust him out of his simple existence. He knew that Bella was planning on getting a car, why shouldn't he help her out a bit? He wanted his daughter to be happy here, and he wanted Bella to like him, they weren't more than friendly strangers. So he bought her a truck, a red Chevy from Billy Black. He hoped Bella would like it, since there wasn't really a wide range of cars to choose from.
Finally, the day of his daughter's arrival came and he picked her up from the airport at Port Angeles. Watching her stumble through the terminal next to him, it finally fully hit him that his daughter would be living with him permanently, he was just so happy, knowing that he will get to raise his daughter, even for as short a time period as it was, he would be able to finally raise his daughter and he would know that he had a hand in her upbringing, and knowing this made him feel good. But he noticed her stumbling again and internally sighed at the knowledge of her clumsiness, hoping beyond hope that she would never get to meet Dr. Cullen for surgery. He liked the doctor, but he really didn't want his daughter in the Emergency Room at all.
The weeks passed and Charlie found that raising a teenager wasn't hard at all, Bella was an excellent girl, never getting into any trouble, receiving good grades in school, and most importantly, no boys. Charlie, like all fathers who had daughters, worried about his daughter and boys, Charlie knew that many girls Bella's age would be in a lot of trouble with boys, but Bella was reasonable, practical, and to Charlie's knowledge from a little talk with Renee before Bella came, a virgin. Charlie wondered how he was so lucky as to have an excellent kid and such an amazing cook.
Bella herself seemed content to Charlie, she never complained, talked to her friends on the phone, read a lot, and smiled while she worked. Despite a tiny trip to the emergency room, she was fine.
It was so sad really, Charlie thought that everything was going just fine, that is, until Bella brought up HIM for the first time. Charlie was eating his dinner, the picture of a man enjoying his life when she had to knock him out of his new semi-peaceful existence. Really, he was enjoying the fresh fish he had caught, they were really biting today, and Bella had put some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry, so dinner couldn't really get any better, but Bella HAD to surprise him!
"Well, I sort of have a date with Edward Cullen and he wanted to introduce me to his parents…Dad?"
Charlie was seeing red; EDWARD CULLEN?! Was that the boy with the blonde hair? Charlie always thought that he didn't seem right somehow… Or was it that big one? The one who looked like he could crush his Bells? He had always seemed too…big.
"Dad, are you all right?" Bella's voice broke through to him through the haze of crimson.
"You are going out with Edward Cullen?" His voice sounded loud even to his own ears.
"I thought you liked the Cullens?" Bella countered right back at him.
And this was the time to bring up Charlie's brilliant defense. "He's too old for you," it had sounded much better in his mind.
And here was Bella, cool and collected with a rational reply of, "We're both juniors."
"Wait…" Charlie collected himself the tiniest bit, "Which one is Edwin?" It was hard to remember those names sometimes, they sounded like they were from another century.
Bella seemed a bit irritated about how Charlie said Edwin's name.
"Edward is the youngest, the one with the reddish brown hair." Ah, it was the Edward one, well Charlie could handle him, he seemed so small compared to the rest of his brothers, although he still wasn't very keen to the idea of Bella dating, period.
"Oh, well, that's"-Charlie still didn't like it at all-"better, I guess, I don't like the look of that big one. I'm sure he's a nice boy and all, but he looks too…mature…for you. Is this Edwin your boyfriend?" Charlie had to hear this; her answer could mean the end of everything.
"It's Edward, Dad." She was trying to change the subject. Charlie could see that Bella was nervous, from the way that she wouldn't look him in the eye and the way that she wouldn't answer the darn question!
"Is he?" He didn't like the idea of his little girl dating anyone.
"Sort of, I guess." Charlie inwardly winced, this wasn't happening. No child of Charles Theodore Swan's would have a boyfriend until they were at least 30; well, he could dream couldn't he?
"You said last night that you weren't interested in any of the boys in town." Charlie tried desperately to find the one piece of proof that Bella couldn't use against him but he knew that it was a dying battle, he really had no qualms with this Edward Cullen but he still didn't exactly agree with his daughter dating.
"Well, Edward doesn't live in town, Dad." Why hadn't Renee had these problems? Really, was it just him Bella felt like torturing?
"And, anyways, it's kind of at an early stage, you know.-" It had better be! -"Don't embarrass me with all the boyfriend talk, okay?" Now why would Charlie do that…?
"When is he coming over?"
"He'll be here in a few minutes." Oh, wonderful. For some reason, Charlie was feeling very fatherly and he looked forward to talking to this…Edwin.
"Where is he taking you?" Where could she really go in Forks? That's why parents liked this town, besides the excellent police force, it was very safe.
Bella obviously didn't like his mere question and showed it very clearly by an agitated groan directed at Charlie. "I hope you're getting the Spanish Inquisition out of your system now. We're going to play baseball with his family." Bella? Baseball? Play? The three didn't belong in the same sentence. Was this the same daughter who would spend hours in her room so she wouldn't have to watch the beloved game? The same daughter who on their vacations together would complain about the Little League that her mother had forced her to take up? Apparently it was. Maybe this boy wasn't so bad…he could certainly work miracles…
Honestly, what was the worse he could do? Charlie didn't like the answer to that question.
It was then that Bella answered the door; HE was here.
What do you think? Should I do more with Renee and Charlie for New Moon? Eclipse?