Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns her characters of her twilight series, I'm just playing with them.

Chapter 4: HONEYMOON PHASE

My room smelled like fresh paint, and everything looked crisp and "out of the package". A new white duvet still had its crease marks, as did the white curtains, and track marks covered the light carpet, someone's thorough cleaning job not going unnoticed.

But it wasn't the light aqua walls or the amazing oak furniture that got my attention. It was the added touches that impressed me—BMX and motocross posters were framed and strategically placed neatly around the room, a snowboard was hung near the closet with the bindings still attached, and instead of a headboard behind the bed, an aerial picture of a forest with winding trails and jumps was centered as the main focus of the room.

It was rumour that all foster kids had their own profiles filed away somewhere, but this room made it a fact. Charlie had read my profile—something I hadn't even read before—and instead of thinking nothing of it, he took my interests to heart, giving me a space I didn't have to loathe.

This situation was getting weirder and weirder. Foster parents didn't do that for kids they were getting rid of in a jiffy. Then again, foster parents didn't usually request the hardest case to crack, or take kids from other states. He was breaking all the rules.

I dropped my bag on the ground and went over to the desk. It was placed in front of one of the two windows in the room, giving me the best view of the front yard. Outside it was dark, and pathways were lit up with little lanterns, illuminating the damp stone and dewy grass.

I touched the smooth top of my desk and stared at the contents on top of it. Freshly sharpened pencils stood in a holder, a silver desk lamp was lit at the top of the desk, and a white laptop with a Hurley sticker was placed in the middle. I touched the laptop carefully, and then slowly peeled the sticker off, tossing it onto the floor. I wasn't that much of a cliché.

To the left of the door, a dresser stood proudly, where an iHome with an iPod already in its dock stared at me with fresh eyes, and a TV hung on the wall above it all. I looked away and grabbed my bag off the floor, throwing it onto my bed to rummage through, until I found my own first generation iPod. I had the other iPod out of the iHome and shoved in a drawer quicker than a flash, my own taking its place in the dock. The music came quick enough, but it wasn't loud enough.

It never is.

-x-

I found Charlie after wondering the house for a bit. He was in an office on the main floor, tucked away in a private hall. He was typing on his computer, and when I did the cliché "knock knock" on the opened door, he shut his laptop immediately, his eyes moving cautiously onto my own.

"You scared me," he admitted, looking down at his desk. I really doubted that. "I'm not used to the feeling of having people in the house again."

I raised an eyebrow. "Again?" He had never mentioned family before.

He stood up and shook his head. "No, nothing," he said, clasping his hands together and giving me a half smile with a lot of effort. "Are you hungry yet?"

"Oh, no. I'm not much of an eater—but when I do get hungry, I know where the fridge is."

He nodded. "Okay," he said, moving out of the office. I followed behind him out into the kitchen, where he continued through the sliding doors that led out onto the biggest deck I have ever seen. It was about twenty-five feet off the ground, and overlooked the sloping backyard, where after a steep incline, the edge of a lake could barely be seen though the trees.

"I didn't know the property was lakeside," I admitted.

"It's really not, but I cleared a few trees down ten years ago so that we could have some kind of view of it."

There was that we again. I didn't question it this time. We all have skeletons, skulls and crossbones in our closets.

"School starts tomorrow for you," he said blankly.

I sighed. "I know."

"You'll do fine if you want to do fine."

"I know."

He chuckled. "What don't you know then?" he asked, placing his back on the edge of the railing, watching my face.

I answered him without hesitation. "Why you're doing all of this."

He shrugged. "Don't good people exist?"

I looked up at the black sky. I knew that answer from my years in broken homes. "No. They don't."

He didn't say anything. I took that as meaning he agreed.

I changed the topic. "My room's a bit much," I admitted, glancing at him from the corner of my eye. "And the laptop—"

"Is a gift, for your birthday."

My face twitched. For someone who didn't know me, he knew a whole lot about me.

"Listen, we both know this nice act isn't going to last long," he said as if it were a matter of fact. "It's just the honeymoon phase, and once we get to know each other, I'm sure we'll figure out the other's faults.

I didn't say anything. It was true—politeness was meant for beginnings and sure to fade.

"Until that time though, I have provided you with all the tools you need to do well. That way you don't have any reasons to fail."

"You're not very optimistic."

"It's just my nature." He turned and leaned over the railing, looking down at the grass, and then gazed out into the forest, like he was searching for something.

"Mine as well. Maybe we'll get along fine then," I said, even though I knew that was a laugh.

He saw through it as well. "I don't get along with criminals, Bella."

"I'm not a criminal."

"You steal."

"I borrow without asking."

"There isn't a difference."

"Of course not. Just like there isn't a difference between being a cop and being a police officer."

"One's a title of respect, the other isn't." He pulled himself straight, now standing without help from the railing. "Don't cut the honeymoon short Bella. I don't want to be the bad guy, but I know you need it in your life."

You don't know what I need. "I can only do so much."

"Well, I don't ask of much, but I do have a few rules."

"Let's hear them now so we don't have any communication issues in the future."

He didn't even smile at that poke on marriage. His face was stern and serious. "When I say be home at a certain time, you better be home at that time. When I say to do something, you do it. When I call, you answer."

"Easy enough. Anything else, captain?"

That he laughed at, but it wasn't genuine. He was mocking me. "It's about time you've have some discipline in your life, and even though you're probably going to hate me, I know you'll be grateful one day."

I nodded. "I doubt that, but hey, if you say so, Charlie."

"I do, Miss Crossbones." He headed back into the house, but before he slid the door shut behind him, he poked his head out and said. "And I trust that you've left your window escape fetish back in Phoenix?"

I shrugged. "We'll have to wait and find out," I said, even though I knew the answer already. I had some exploring to do, and the moment his head hit the pillow, I would be gone.

"Don't make me nail those windows shut," he said before shutting the door.

"Don't make me use a crow bar," I said too late, his absence making it less dramatic. But I swear, where his laugh was absent, another was made known in the distance, ever so quietly. I looked over my shoulder, where the forest was dark and murky, but nothing made itself known.

Spooked, I returned inside, where the honeymoon was officially over.

-x-