Tortured Souls

Disclaimer: I do not own Good Luck Charlie

A/N: Now is the time skip, this is where we begin to try and repair what was broken.

Chapter 11 (Separated)

"Come on!" Sixteen year old Charlotte Duncan taunted her friend as she played Galaxy of Death 6 Online. Her blond curls bounced on her back as she laughed gleefully in the dark house. She continued on to type her teasing when she made her character duck behind a wall after blowing up her opponent from behind. "Are you getting upset about being beat by a girl, ?" That was her friend's penname, they'd met over the game about two or three years ago, so the teasing was just innocent.

"I don't understand!" He typed back. "I've been playing this game for years, my brother taught me all about it!"

"No dice, I've been playing all my life. It's in my blood. Literally!" She laughed again and ran her character around the wall. She crept behind a nearby rock behind the spawn point and aimed an arrow towards her friend. "Forgive me, I'm about to make a cheap shot."

"What do you mean?" Dark's character spawned and she immediately shot the arrow, killing the character. "Oh come on, are you seriously rubbing this in my face?" She had many more wins than him, but only because she knew how to be stealthy. This was one game she knew in and out. It wasn't like she didn't have a life, she did, but that didn't change things very much for her. These days it was either dancing, school, or video games. Sadly, dancing was the only thing she was any good at. "You know, one of these days I'm going to get you. Just watch, I will beat you."

"In your dreams." She laughed and moved her hands away from the keyboard. She looked at the clock and frowned, it was nearly one in the morning. Her mother finally was working as a waitress, but only because of the friends they'd found, but the restaurant had become one of those twenty-four hour things, and so Teddy worked the graveyard shift. She didn't come home until at least ten in the morning, and she slept most days. With a heavy sigh, she returned to the computer. "Hey, let's get on Skype, I'm done with this game for now."

"Aw come on! I was just about to get you!"

"That's what you said the last five or six times I killed you." She flipped off the game and went to Skype, waiting for her friend to get on. got on after about three minutes and called her so they didn't have to type. "Took you long enough."

"Sorry, geez, my computer's slow after playing that game. Anyway, won't your mother be upset with you being up so late? It's one over there, right?"

"Yeah." They were living in Chicago, Illinois now. Things really started changing for them when they got there, because it's where Teddy met her old friends, Rocky and Cece. They convinced their friend's uncle to hire her at Crusty's, which had become an even bigger franchised restaurant. Rocky was the new host of Shake it Up, Chicago, and had convinced Charlotte to get on the show and learn how to dance. After some time of mentoring, she got the hang of it. She also attended John Hughes High, and was incredibly grateful towards that school. This was one of the first times she was actually happy, along with her mother. "It doesn't really matter, I'll go to bed before she gets home."

"Didn't you say she used to be a stripper?"

"Uh huh, but that life's over now." They did a lot of moving. The first manager was the only respectable one. He was a kind older man with a lot of money and ability to help, when he died, a new manager came in that wanted to "test drive" all of the dancers. Teddy was not into that, so she left. Throughout the years, until they settled in Chicago, every manager they came across was a piece of shit.

They made it to Chicago about four years ago. Rocky's older brother, Ty, decided to visit a strip club for the first and last time of his life, curious as to what it looked like. The boy was indeed terrified by what he saw, but he had been more shocked to see Teddy. When he saw her, he asked about whether she was part of the Duncan's that came around a few years ago, she confirmed it, and then he invited her to meet up again with Rocky and Cece at Crusty's. It was there they convinced Deuce's uncle to hire her on, seeing as how even Teddy was exhausted with the seedy lifestyle of a stripper.

Now, for the first time, it didn't feel like they were going to keep moving around constantly. Hell, Crusty's even paid better, and Uncle Frank hadn't regretted hiring a stripper as a waitress. Sure the pay wasn't perfect, but it was something. It was enough for the house they lived in, granted it was a tiny two bedroom apartment they had to rent out for about 300 a month. It was much better than those boxes and trailers they'd had to move to and from over the last thirteen years.

"Hey Dark, how'd you get your penname? I've always been curious about that." They never used the webcam, considering her mom didn't believe it was safe, nor did he have a webcam. They also didn't know each other's names, just their nicknames. She had two different pennames she used, one for the game , and one for everything else. She heard him chuckle and move around in his seat.

"It's just the lifestyle, that's all." She frowned and lifted her eyebrow, was his life really that bad? Then again, it was why they were friends, they had a bit of kinship in regards to their lives, both having had difficult times. She probably talked more about her troubles than he did his. "My dad died back in 2017, I think I mentioned. That was the same time my brother left for college to be with his girlfriend. He doesn't come around much, doesn't even live in the same city anymore. Mom's a lot like your mom, sleeps through the day and night, so why do you think I play this game all the time?"

"I see."

"What about your penname? The in game one? 'Inbredwarrior2009'" She laughed and closed her eyes. She used that name only for laughs. She knew about the incest and who her birth father was, though she'd never talked to him. She'd coped with it more than her mother had, and her mom would probably kill her if she knew she even used a penname for that. "Granted it makes your character sound like a badass."

"Exactly! Just think of all the anime shows and whatnot where purebreds or inbreeds are powerful! Granted I'm not that strong in real life, I've got a frail heart and everything."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, medical problems. You know I dance on that dance show, right?" He never got the show at his place, so he usually complained about not being able to see his friend on the show, but it couldn't be helped. "Well it's about as much exercise as I can do. I get winded really quickly, so I can't run very well, and I have to take medication to keep my heart from going so fast that it kills me. I almost died when I was younger."

"Damn, I'm sorry."

"It's fine! Doctors said I wouldn't live past the age of two, and here I am, sixteen years old and dancing on a show!" She laughed happily, always trying to be optimistic if possible. She didn't believe being depressed made anything better.

"That's good. Hey, you realize you didn't wish me happy birthday last week? I'm thirteen years old, a teenager now, and you didn't say anything. What was up with that?" She glanced to the side, chuckling sheepishly. That was the week her mom grounded her, she got into trouble quite a bit. Pity too, considering it was the middle of June, she should have been out enjoying the rays. She was unable to go on the annual trip to Lake Whitehead with Rocky's and Cece's families.

"Mom grounded me. You know Cece works as a police officer like her mom, right? Well I thought it would be funny to see what would happen if I used her handcuffs to cuff her to the kitchen table." She smiled with a gleam of pride, remembering how Cece had fallen asleep at the table while visiting the house and waiting for Teddy to get ready to go shopping. Unfortunately Cece was called in to work and wound up practically having the entire table fall on top of her. "It was a simple mistake, could have happened to anyone."

Dark laughed. "I'm not sure who I feel more for. You or Mrs. Hessenheffer." Cece married Gunther about three years ago, she was twenty five. Now twenty-eight, Cece and Rocky were only two years younger than Teddy, who was thirty. She was also pregnant with their first child, so Teddy and Rocky spent a lot of time with her, when Teddy wasn't sleeping through the day that is. Rocky was dating an old friend from her school, Howard. Teddy was the only one that was single, but she had her reasons for choosing to remain single. She didn't trust men all that much, and still harbored a grudging resentment to what Spencer did to her all those years ago.

"Hah-hah, well happy thirteenth. Did you get to see your brother?"

"Thanks! Nope! He's too busy with his wife and little daughter to come say hi to me." He mumbled and smacked something on his desk. From what Charlotte understood, his brother had a five year old girl named Jenny, born in 2020. "Oh well, mom and I went out to this nice restaurant and had some steaks. No loss there. I think she tries too hard sometimes, but eh, that's just me."

"Well like you said her only other kid ran off after college, and your dad died, so it makes sense she'd be a bit clingy to you. My mom's always protective of me for her various reasons too, so I know how that feels."

"What? Your mom afraid you'll walk out on her or something?"

"No, not really. Like I said, just a lot of medical problems…that, and I don't really know what half my relatives are doing these days."

"Man that sucks."

"I know!" She didn't know what PJ's life was like, she didn't know what Gabe was up to these days. She didn't know how Bob and Amy were doing, or even Grandma Petunia. "Mom refuses to talk about them or to even associate with any of them. Though I think if she could associate with dad, she might, I'm not sure how she feels about him. It's kind of complicated…nothing worth going into."

"Right. I still can't believe you beat me at that game…it's not fair." She laughed and curled her lips into a wide smirk.

"Can do a rematch anytime, anywhere, you will still go down. I'm telling you, it's in my blood!" She pulled her head back for a second, letting out a soft sigh. She really only had one bloodline she could choose from, but oh well. "Anyway Dark, it's getting late and I'm getting tired. If I sleep until four or five again, Mom's going to know I've been up way too late…and Miss Blue won't be happy either."

"No?"

"She's kind of my dance teacher, and my boss at the same time. If you ever find a way to watch Shake it Up, you should! It's great!"

"Yeah, I'll look into it some time. It's been a blast, see you around."

"Bye." She hung up the call and leaned back in her chair, staring blankly at the computer. All the talk about family had managed to depress her a bit, so she definitely wanted to get to bed rather than sit and mull over things for much longer. She never resented Teddy for separating herself from everyone, because she knew it was what she had to do at the time, but still she would love to see them all again some time. Knowing her mother, though, there was absolutely no way in hell she'd want to get mixed up with them. She crossed her arms and closed her eyes, muttering to herself. "Wonder if I'll ever see my family…"

Hmm, so much time has passed through, so many things have happened. Let's see what will happen now, let me know your thoughts!