Disclaimer:
These characters are not mine. All thanks go to their creator
Stephenie Meyer. This could all disappear at her whim, but so
far she's been really kind about us playing in her sandbox. Author
Note: I was curious about what was going on in Charlie's head after
Bella's change was revealed. This is my exploration of his
thoughts. For more information on Charlie's theory about the
Cullens, look on Wikipedia for Aos Si or Tuatha de Danann, or see
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I made it all the way down the drive, and a quarter mile down the main road, before I had to pull over and deal with what I'd just seen. They'd been careful, of course. From the start all the way through the football games, they kept up a good charade, just a little edge of weird hanging in the air. Except for Bella. She didn't have the "act normal" thing down, yet. Which, actually, made it a little better, since then I could see how she was struggling to act human for me, that she was obviously putting in a lot of effort to make me more comfortable.
And then there was Renesmee. There was a resemblance to Edward, of course, which would fit with the cover story of a niece he was adopting. But, there was no denying the resemblance to Bella, either, which was physically impossible. Nine months simply didn't fit into mere weeks!
I noticed my hands shaking on the steering wheel. Breathe, Charlie. There is an explanation.
Was there some sci-fi crap going on, faster than light and all that? I remember something like that...maybe from Star Trek? Great. Things are really bad if I'm looking to Star Trek for answers.
Except that something really is going on. Somehow nine months really got crammed into a matter of weeks. Plus at least another three months for her to grow. And, if the Cullens really were space aliens, they'd have some technology that would make them appear to be human without leaving that weirdness floating in the air. But what else would make time flow differently? And make my baby girl a living statue?
Stop. Breathe. I shouldn't even be thinking of this. Like they said, they can stick around as long as I don't ask questions. I just have to accept this, whatever it is, and be happy that she's safe and whole. And a mother.
Except that my mind doesn't work like that. Whether I became a cop because I kept worrying at a problem until I solved it, or whether I developed the habit by being a cop for so long, the end result was the same: I couldn't just let it sit. So, I kept working at the problem of just what on Earth was going on as I started the car moving again.
I'd been driving for a bit, trying to keep myself distracted by wondering what Sue was making for dinner and plotting to get Billy alone on a fishing boat so I could murder him quietly for keeping all this from me, when something clicked in the back of my brain. Time acting oddly, creatures of unearthly beauty, even babies just appearing, all did have something in common. Stories Auntie Beryl told me when I was a boy.
Auntie Beryl was always full of the most amazing stories during family gatherings, stories about dragons and knights, witches and warlocks. And stories about the fae. The fae came in all shapes and sizes, according to her, from little brownies that helped with the chores to nasty gremlins that caused painful mischief if not appeased, to the regal sidhe. Inhumanly beautiful and unchanging, Auntie Beryl told stories about how time meant little to them. Any human who supped with them would return to find months or years had passed, and babies could sometimes be born and mature in a day, or sometimes stay frozen as a toddler for years. She'd never told a story of a human becoming a fae, but there were enough stories of amazing feats performed by wild fae magic that I could believe it.
But could I believe it? It was insane, of course, worse than the Star Trek theory. Yet, somehow it just felt right. Not to mention, after seeing Jake's crazy display, magic was much more believable than science fiction.