AN: Hi Folks!

I hope everyone is surviving their coronapocalype and that all your loved ones are safe in their houses!

Things are getting pretty real out there and I just want to say, thank you to everyone in essential services who are still working in spite of the risk to their own wellbeing.

This includes things like grocery stores and pharmacies because people still need to eat and they still need medicine. You probably don't realize it but you folks are the backbone at times like this and you don't get nearly enough appreciation, so thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

And if you're not in essential services but you know someone who is, please take a moment to thank them and show appreciation!

Speaking of appreciation, thank you to all who read, fave, follow, and review this story! Your readership and feedback make me so happy! Special thanks to reviewers for last chapter, WPear, twi nana, and catgrl!

This is a short chapter because you are getting two at once and I wanted to put most of my focus on 1999 because it is the last one before the epilogue.

But first, here is 1998!


Chapter Ten: 1998

Charlie's POV

Our eldest kids turned twelve this year and I shuddered to think that we would soon have a house full of teenagers. Kids were one thing, teenagers were another.

As a cop, I had often found myself in a position to be dealing with other people's teenagers and their bad behavior over the years. And while I was aware that lots of teenagers were good kids who grew up into upstanding adults, I also knew that this wasn't always the case.

The La Push PD didn't have as many problems in that regard over the years as the Forks PD had during my brief time working in town. The kids on the Rez were generally pretty respectful, for the most part. I had to assume that was partly due to having grown up hearing legends of giant wolves watching over the tribe. I remember being a kid myself and thinking "Gee, I'd better behave or the giant wolves might eat me."

But the thing was, even the most respectful kids still went through the hormonal changes of puberty. Which meant there was really no avoiding the fact that in another couple of years, they would be moody and emotional and start hogging the bathroom a lot more.

I knew some of the girls had already started having discreet, secret conversations with their mothers. Thankfully, all of our wives were kind, compassionate, and loving, and I knew they were well equipped for helping our girls through the transition into womanhood.

And of course, Billy and I were gonna do everything we could to ensure our boys turned into the best kind of men, as they all got older and progressed through puberty as well.

There was so much they wouldn't learn in school. So much that parents still needed to teach their kids themselves. Things like compassion, kindness, sincerity, honesty, open-mindedness, humility, love, diplomacy, courage, generosity, concern for others.

And the more tangible, practical skills too. Like how to balance a checkbook, how to live below your means, how to save for a rainy day, how to prepare for an emergency, how to plant a garden, even something as basic as knowing how to cook, was seldom taught in schools. These were the things we as parents were committed to teaching them.

We couldn't know what their futures might hold, or what disasters they might face. We could only look into their eyes and tell them the things they needed to know for one day years from now when they would be out on their own in the world and we wouldn't be around to teach them anymore.

And sure, I'd like to hope that even once our kids moved out, they would stay in the area. But our sister, Nora, was a perfect example of the fact that doesn't always happen. Sometimes kids grew up and moved halfway around the world from their parents. Or sometimes, parents died. You just never knew what was in store.

In life, it always pays to be ready for anything.


AN: Haha looks like puberty is about to hit the Blackswans with a vengeance! Wonder what else is about to hit in 1999!

Oh and just because I'm giving you two chapters at once, of course, I still want reviews for this one! ;-*