Lies that Destroy

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 6 (Cannot Escape by Blacking Out)

PJ, Teddy, Emmet, Spencer, and Ivy were all gaining some quiet time at the mall. They needed to catch a break with some of the recent drama that had happened with Gabe. PJ, of course, had been freaked when Teddy told him how their father acted in his pursuit of his son, so coldly. Where was the fatherly concern? It was as if he didn't have any real concern for Gabe, or Teddy for that matter, in his body. It really had been making him think, more than he would have liked to.

The reason he often acted so dense in nature, and it was true that he was truly dense from time to time, but for the most part he could be very smart if he wanted to be. He just opted not to act smart, because it created thoughts and doubts that he just wanted to shove down, to silence. Unfortunately now they'd resurfaced and ever since he turned eighteen, he couldn't put them to rest. He'd also been coming up on names and events, people that gave him this very eerie feeling of peace, calmness, and sadness.

He and Emmett were sitting on the edge of the fountain in the food court, directly to the right of the table where Teddy was sitting with Spencer, whose arm was around her shoulders, and Ivy. "How about you stop worrying about this stuff?" Emmett suggested. "If you can't get a solid answer from your parents, and you don't think there's anything wrong, then don't pursue it." PJ groaned and rubbed his forehead, his head was pounding. Teddy's head fell onto her arms, folded in front of her on the table. "What?"

"That's the problem," PJ muttered. "It would be easy if we didn't think there was an issue, but we do. Don't know what, but at least I'm certain something's wrong. Teddy's just in denial."

"As if you're not in denial too!" Teddy said with a sharp retort. PJ leaned back a bit and stared at his sister with a deep concern and sorrow. He felt bad that she was so upset and wanted to help her. It was an older brother thing to do, and protecting his little sister was just what he felt ever since he was a kid. When she was in trouble, he was the first to help. "Everything's just so…I don't know. Confusing. I don't think this is something you're going to be able to solve, PJ." She chuckled at him and he smiled back. The others exchanged concerned glances.

"What does that mean?" Spencer asked. PJ shrugged his shoulders and Teddy glanced at her boyfriend from the side.

"PJ and I have always been the closest siblings. It's a bond thing, we've always had each other's backs since we were children. I'd have an issue, he'd try to do something about it. He had a problem, I'd try to help…sure you get your fights and stuff, but all in all, he's the best brother I could ask for."

It was strange that they could say that about each other, but not Gabe and Charlie. Now, they loved their younger siblings, and they were close, but it didn't feel the same. It didn't feel like a pure sibling love and concern, it just felt like deep care for them. PJ never quite figured out why he felt that way towards them, why he didn't feel like he had a sibling connection to them, but he did with Teddy. Unfortunately, all his life, his parents had never bothered to give him any real answers to that question, or any other question. It was pissing him off.

"There's sort of a connection we share as siblings that we don't quite share with Gabe and Charlie," he admitted. "It's troublesome, as if they weren't our siblings or something, you know?" Their friends shook their heads and clicked their tongues, possibly unsure what to think. He heard someone in the background referring to the woman he read about in that article, and quickly turned his gaze over his shoulder. He saw two people around his age walking through the food court, applying posters to the walls. They seemed disheartened that no one was paying any mind.

One was a girl with blonde hair that feathered out midway between her chin and shoulders, she had a few freckles on her cheeks, and was wearing an outfit similar to what Teddy often wore. The boy beside her had a blue baseball cap with the bill positioned at the back of his head. He had straight length shaggy blonde hair that started to curl out from under the hat. Both were shaking their heads at each other and still putting up the flyers of a woman with two missing children. He felt like giving them some attention, as they appeared desperate.

"I'll be right back guys." Hopping from the fountain, he rushed over to the two, smiling slightly. "Hi, I couldn't help but overhear. Jasmine Booth? I just read an article on her. What's going on?" He paused and remembered he needed a greeting, he extended his hand and gave them an apologetic nod. "I'm PJ, by the way."

"I'm James," the boy said while shaking hands with him. "This is my, sort of cousin, Opal." Opal waved and moved a flyer to the wall. There were no pictures, besides age progressed photos that PJ thought looked vaguely familiar. Of course, he wasn't about to say those photos had anything to do with himself or Teddy, after all, who wanted to admit that they could be missing children? Who even wanted to think about that.

"Sort of, cousins?"

"Well yeah. My name's James Sloan, hers is Opal Booth. My mother is this woman's sister-" James pointed to the flyer and started to roll his eyes, as if the explanation was exhausting. Which it was. "Opal's dad is the older brother of Uncle Henry, Aunt Jasmine's husband." He breathed out and closed his eyes. "Each year we do this. Well, considering Opal flies down here for a month every year around Aunt Jasmine's birthday. She would have been fifty-one on April 23rd." He was disheartened to hear that news, of course, he was always sad when it came to hearing about this woman. Why? He didn't know. It was only May 4th, so not even two weeks from the woman's birthday. "Each year for a few weeks, we like to try and put up these flyers about Aunt Jasmine, she uh…passed back in 2000, Uncle Henry lives up in New York somewhere."

"I'm really sorry to hear about that."

"I wasn't quite eight when it happened," Opal stated. She had an almost musical tone to her voice, she could be a singer some day, just like Teddy. "James here, he's only a year younger than I am. I'll be turning twenty on the nineteenth, he turned nineteen April 15th."

"Cool, I don't turn nineteen until November." He was glad to meet some people his own age, even if one of them appeared to live in another area. "You say Jasmine's husband's living off in New York?"

"Yeah, mostly because my dad's lived there all his life. Uncle Henry needed to be around family when Aunt Jasmine passed on. He's been working hard ever since. Anyway, you said you read an article about her?" He nodded and glanced over at James, who was studying him closely. There was the question of what they could be thinking, or feeling, because he felt a strange connection with them that he didn't understand.

"I read about how she passed. My parents had the article printed out, and then Dad got upset over it." His voice trailed off and his eyes rolled. With a heavy sigh, he folded his arms over and shook his head. "Moving on. The article said something about her children."

"Yeah, our cousins." James handed him one of the flyers and continued to explain, "They were born in '93 and '95. David and April Booth." PJ turned his eyes to the flyer and felt his heart palpitate beneath his ribs. It was still depressing, these two were born not only the same year, but the same month as he and Teddy were. "If you see anything or have any questions…we've put our numbers at the bottom of the flyer."

"All right, I'll do that." Though he figured it was best to keep the flyer away from his father, the man might tear that up as well. Could his parents be capable of kidnapping? He started to feel a bitterness growing up inside as he shifted his eyes to the two cousins. He wondered, if by some strange chance, they were connected, what would life have been like growing up with them? They seemed nice, energetic, and all around friendly. They could have taken this town. "Maybe we ought to hang sometime?"

"I wish man, but I have to get back to the airport soon," Opal replied, "Dad and Uncle Henry are telling me it's time to get back to the big city. Unfortunately that means I can't stick around."

"Aw man!" James frowned and Opal laughed. "Oh, laughing at my pain are you?"

"Oh and why not? You laughed when I tripped on that sidewalk crack outside."

"That's different." The two began to walk off and PJ gazed on with amusement. They reminded him a little of him and his sister. How nice would it be to be a part of their family? Once more he thought on his own parents and whether or not they would have been capable of abduction. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to him, but there were several small, but alarming factors that kept falling into place. His mind trailed off to a memory so old, he was certain it was forgotten. He'd blacked it out, purposely denied it and refused it, but now it was back again. Haunting him.

"Just don't think about it, PJ. Thinking about it causes pain."

Eight-year old PJ Duncan rode down the street on his bicycle, laughing as the wind blew across his face. He wasn't well aware of his surroundings, and he bumped into the neighbors front porch and flew off his bike into the grass.

"You okay?" Someone asked. He groaned and lifted his head up to see the neighbor's kid, Rodney Dabney. He was fourteen, curly black hair and wore a chain necklace with a black shirt and deep blue jeans. He helped PJ up and dusted off his back. "Looks like you had quite the fall."

"I'm fine." One to not let those scrapes and bruises damage him too much, he wanted to get right back onto his bike and fly some more. He turned his head to the bike and frowned, the front tire had come disconnected and the chain was separated. "My bike…"

"It's okay, mom and dad can probably fix it." Rodney paused and lifted his shoulders. "Well dad, mom doesn't really like being nice…"

"Your mom always tries to avoid us." Rodney frowned as he and PJ moved to the steps of the front porch. "She never talks to me or my sister." It hurt to think Mrs. Dabney didn't like them, and he always wanted to ask why that was. Unfortunately, she never bothered to stay longer to ask. "What did we ever do to her?"

"It's not what you did. It's your parents, she just doesn't like or trust them. Good reason for it too." PJ looked up, finally noticing the apple in Rodney's hand. Rodney bit into the apple and chewed it for a minute, staring blankly at the Duncan's home. "Your brother was born a couple years ago, right? Do you remember your mom ever being pregnant?"

"What? Mommy brought him home, said the stork dropped him off at the hospital."

"Funny. You think babies come from the hospital. That's all right I guess, you're young enough to think that. It's not true though." PJ frowned and tilted his head to the side, he was confused. Didn't the stork drop off the baby at the hospital? Why wouldn't they? "You and your sister came in the world the same way your brother did, I remember, I was there to see. Your mom and dad walked into the house with you, but she was never pregnant. Mom works at the adoption agency and they never went there. It's kind of scary…"

"I don't understand. The stork?"

"One day you're going to need this information. There is no stork, PJ." Rodney's lips fell and he rubbed PJ's shoulder, attempting to soothe him somehow. PJ bowed his head and stared down at his feet. No stork? Then how were babies brought home? "Babies are born, but they need to be carried around inside their mother for nine months. If the stork were real, then that means he puts the baby inside the mom."

"Oh. So inside mama?" He lifted up his head and grinned. Like magic, a small seed that they had to go to the hospital and take out. "Like a seed?" Rodney chuckled and took another bite of his apple.

"Something like that, but you won't learn that for a few years…But once it's inside the mom, her stomach grows bigger for nine whole months. Do you remember Petunia down the street?" PJ nodded and glanced to a blue house in the distance. Petunia moved away with her family about three months ago, but a year ago her belly had begun getting really big. She was only nineteen. Before she moved, her belly had gone down and she came home with a new baby. "She was pregnant. You remember what she looked like before she came home with her baby, that child was inside her for nine months."

"Oh! But mommy never looked like that. Not with Gabe. She's always been skinny."

"Exactly." Rodney took one final bite of the apple and tossed the core into a recycle bin next to the mailbox down on the curb. He laughed and pumped a fist in to the air. "Score!" After clearing his throat, he turned back to PJ. "Anyway. I think your parents are not good people. You might want to be aware of that…I think they steal babies."

"No, they're good people. They wouldn't take babies! You're lying!" Not wanting to hear anymore, he quickly bounced from the steps and ran for his own house, ignoring his broken bike. He heard Rodney calling out to him, but he ignored the teen. He wasn't going to listen to this, his parents would never do something so evil. He ran through the door screaming, but his Dad didn't budge from the couch and his mom remained in the kitchen. "Mommy! Mommy I need you!"

"Not now honey, I'm tired," Amy moaned. "Go upstairs and play with your toys darling." It was Teddy that came over to try and calm him down with a hug, despite not knowing why he was so terrified and so scared.

"Don't think about it PJ," Teddy said with a soft, sisterly voice. "If it hurts, then it's bad. If it's bad, don't think about it and it'll go away. Right?"

PJ shook his head and gasped out. He immediately began rubbing his pulsating temples and started walking back towards his friends. He hated that memory, it was too painful for him to acknowledge. He had to say, it was at least nice how the bike was returned to him the very next day, all in one piece and fixed up.

Could Rodney have been right? He didn't know, but maybe it called for a little research. Maybe it was time to stop vanquishing those thoughts, maybe it was time to start paying more attention to them. "You okay?" Teddy asked while hopping from her seat and putting a hand to his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Headache."

"Maybe it's time to get home then. We'll get you some Tylenol and you can get to sleep." He smiled as their friends started to circle around them. His eyes drifted to the exit doors in the mal where James and Opal were walking out. His heart went out to them and he found himself wanting to run after them, but he didn't. There was no reason to, or at least, he didn't think there was.

"I don't know that Tylenol is going to fix this…"

Probably not.