Title: All Grown Up

Author: Chickiee-Dee  

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own McLeod's Daughters or anything associated with it.

Summary: AU. Charlotte's a teenager, how has her life been affected by the absence of her mother?

Authors Notes: This is only my second attempt at a McLeod's Daughters fic. I mostly write Alias fics (if anyone's interested in reading them, I'd love to now what you think). If anyone wants to read my first McLeod's fic, its called 'Final Thoughts' and I'd appreciate feedback on that as well. I LOVE constructive criticism but any other comments are welcome. I wanted to dedicate this fic in its entirety to my friend, Kimby, whose a huge McLeod's fan and was the one who gave me the idea for this in the first place. I'm sorry I haven't updated in ages, but then again I haven't updated many of my other fics either, I've been writing a lot of one-parters, plus I was out of inspiration for this. Its probably gonna be a while before I update again cos I'm writing three Alias fics as well as this and I'm currently working on a fic for the SD-1 S/V smut challenge, so I'm apologising in advance for being slack with updates. Anyway please review, I'd love to know what you think. Heres the next chapter.

Chapter 2

Charlotte woke up early the next morning, her neck stiff from being in an awkward position all night. She looked at the clock and groaned, 5:25, she had to be out of bed in five minutes to get ready for school. "This sucks" Charlotte grumbled, turning her alarm off and kicking her covers off. She rummaged through her suitcase looking for something to wear, "I really should unpack those," she said to herself, as she stumbled out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom.

The hot water pelted down on her skin, the little droplets, cascading down her arms. The water soothed her, it always had. When Charlotte was at boarding school she'd gotten in trouble frequently for spending so much time in the showers. Charlotte rubbed shampoo and conditioner through her hair and rinsed it clean. After a good half hour, she stepped out from the small shower, which stood in the corner of the white bathroom, and dried her skin, wrapping a towel around her hair while she dressed. When she finally emerged from the bathroom, Tess was out of bed and wandering around aimlessly. "Charlotte, your up."

"Yeah, I was just having a shower."

"Well, breakfast is ready when you wanna come down."

"Sure, I'll be there in a minute." Tess watched Charlotte go into her bedroom, before going downstairs.

Charlotte walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. She picked up a plate of bacon and eggs and sat down to eat. Meg handed her a glass of juice and she smiled in recognition. "Who's taking me to school today?"

"I am kiddo" a male voice responded.

"Hi Uncle Alex."

"Hey everyone" he said, referring to the others that were congregating in the kitchen for breakfast. "Char, how'd Phoenix go yesterday?" Stevie asked.

"She was fine" Charlotte responded, not really wanting to communicate with anyone. After several long minutes Charlotte took her plate to the bench and disappeared upstairs to finish getting ready for school. "She's a bit off" Jodie commented.

"Just give her some time Jodie, it can't be easy for her to be here" Tess responded.

"Yeah, but it was her choice, Peter was more than happy to keep her with him."

"Peter had her in boarding school, he didn't have that much to do with her anyway."

"Why don't you all cut her some slack" Alex started "It must be hard for her, Claire died before Charlotte knew her and the knob clearly hasn't been a great father for her either. She's had a lot to deal with and she's only fifteen."

"I guess your right Alex, I just wish there was something we could do to make things easier for her" Tess said.

"Just give her some space" Meg reasoned "She'll come around." The rooms other occupants nodded and before long Charlotte came back downstairs carrying a backpack. "I'm ready. See you guys this arvo" she said, heading out the door before anyone could respond. "I guess that means we're off" Alex commented, putting his hat back on as he left.

A couple of hours later Charlotte arrived at school, "See ya kiddo" Alex called as she climbed out of the Ute. Charlotte merely waved in his direction as she walked through the front gates. Once she was sure that Alex was out of sight she took her jacket off and tied it around her waist, revealing a tight singlet top that stopped just above her belly button and was cut low enough that you could see a fair amount of cleavage. She wandered towards her locker and bumped her bag in front of it, opening it so she could empty all the crap into her locker. Charlotte swung the metal door open, almost knocking someone over in the process, "Shit, you tryna kill me or something" a male voice exclaimed.

"Maybe" Charlotte replied coldly, "If you piss me off enough." She swung her door closed and looked at the source of the voice. He looked her over, paying particular attention to her top half, "Well, I ain't seen you around here before" he said, "I'd have noticed, I'm Andrew."

"Charlotte" she replied, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Where you from?"

"I just moved here from Adelaide, but I was born on one of the farms out here."

"Really? Which one?"

"Drovers Run."

"Drover Run, I live across the road from there."

"You do?"

"Yeah, well not really, our property runs on the opposite side of the road."

"Wait are you from Kingsford?"

"Yeah."

"Interesting…"

"Why?"

"Just cos." A couple of guys walked past where the two were standing and whistled loudly, "You know, you're gonna get that reaction all day now."

"Why?"

"Well, you look damn hot, there's gonna be a whole lotta guys wanting to screw you."

"What makes you think that that isn't the reaction I was after?"

"I never said it wasn't but if it was, wanna come up the back with me."

"Sure" Charlotte replied, taking his hand and following him up towards the back of the school.

Andrew dropped her hand once they were out of sight of the main building but before he could make a move on her Charlotte grabbed his shirt, pulling him towards her and kissing him roughly. Andrew was stunned, but melded to her instantaneously. They were interrupted by the ringing of the bell, and reluctantly they broke away, breathless. The two of them walked back towards the main building, his hand resting ever so slightly on her butt and hers wound around his waist, holding him close. When they arrived at the main building they headed for their respective classrooms.

The morning dragged on and Charlotte watched the hands on the clock move slowly, minutes seemed like hours, hours seemed like days. She was unable to concentrate during her first two classes and found herself with a detention during recess because she was late for class and she was 'disrespectful' to a teacher. By lunchtime Charlotte was fed up with school, she threw her books in her locker and when she closed the door, Andrew was standing there, a cheeky grin on her face. "Wanna blow off school this arvo? I'm sure we could find something better to do" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Why not?" she replied, grabbing her wallet from her bag. Andrew grabbed her hand and they had begun to walk out of the building and towards the back of the school when Tarlia stopped them, "You coming with us Char?"

"Ya-huh."

"Nice top babe."

"Thanks."

"Mark said he was gonna meet us up the back."

"Well let's go then." Tarlia, Charlotte and Andrew snuck up the back of the school, standing in a clearing while they waited for Mark to show up. After a few minutes he did and the four of them headed out the back gate and into town.

A/N: I'm gonna leave it there. I know Charlotte seems so different to Claire, but the reason for that is she has rebelled against peter and takes pride in doing whatever she hates, and yes she seems kinda slutty, but hey, that's how I wanted to write her. I ask you to remember that she grew up without Claire to really straighten her out, so that's why she kinda crazy. Please review and let me know what you think, was it good, bad, horrible? I appreciate all feedback. Next update should be in a couple of weeks (hopefully) maybe sooner depending on how much I get done on my Alias fics. Please check them out if you've got the time. Blah, blah, blah…until next time… LOL Alyce :D