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. I was also working like a maniac on my SD-1 S/V Smut challenge fic (which I finally finished! :D) Please review and let me know what you think. Anyway, heres the next chapter…
Chapter 3After Mark met up with them, Charlotte, Tarlia and Andrew snuck out the back gate of the school and headed towards town. Charlotte watched as Tarlia and Mark, fought to keep their hands off each other. She grinned and shook her head, pointing the fidgety couple out to Andrew. "Their always like that" he whispered in her ear, as he slipped his arm around her waist, holding her possessively. After a few minutes, Tarlia and Mark stopped outside a café, waiting for Andrew and Charlotte to catch up. "You guys wanna get something to eat?" Tarlia asked.
"Sure, Char, how bout you?"
"Yeah, why not." The four of them walked into the half empty café and ordered something to eat, before settling down at one of the tables near the back. Once they were seated Mark and Tarlia began to make-out and Charlotte and Andrew soon began to copy their actions. A few minutes later a waitress interrupted them, and quickly dropped their plates on the table, before leaving. They took their time eating their lunch and half an hour later, the four of them left.
Once they had eaten, they continued down the deserted main street of Fisher. As they passed a clothing shop, Tarlia squealed and pulled Mark inside, Charlotte and Andrew followed them in. Mark and Andrew sat in the chairs at the back of the store while Charlotte and Tarlia looked through the clothes racks. They each grabbed a couple of t-shirts and a pair of pants and went to try them on, before modelling them for the boys. The boys unanimously decided that the girls 'looked damn hot', so they went and paid for the clothes and left the shop. After the clothes shop, they kept walking down the street and stopped outside the CD store. Mark and Andrew insisted that they look for CDs, so the girls followed them in. They spent at least an hour in the CD store and when they left, they each had a new CD. By the time they stepped back out of the CD store, the streets were slightly more crowded, and as they made their way down the road, Charlotte saw Tess amongst the crowd. "Shit, Tess is up there," she said, pointing to where Tess was walking. In an effort to avoid getting caught, the four of them turned down a back street and snuck back towards the school.
The four of them weaved through a series of residential streets in an attempt to avoid anywhere that Tess might appear. Ten or so minutes later they arrived at the back entrance of the school and hid in the bushes. Andrew stuck his head around the side of a building cautiously, checking to see if there were ant stray teachers walking around. The coast seemed clear, so him and Mark snuck down to the lockers, stashing all their purchases safely in their bags. Once the task was complete, they ran back up to where they'd left the girls, gossiping in amongst the trees. "Where'd you get that top Char?" Tarlia asked once the boys had left. "Adelaide."
"Is that where you lived?"
"Yeah in a boarding school. Dad didn't want me around."
"What a prick."
"Tell me about it."
"You had many boyfriends?" Tarlia asked suddenly.
"Never really had a boyfriend, just a couple of guys I've slept with," Charlotte admitted, shrugging her shoulders, "How bout you?"
"I've been with a couple of guys. Mark and I have been together a couple of months."
"You slept with him yet?"
"Yeah, what else are we gonna do on the weekends?"
"Where do you live again?"
"Out on the main road. Bout an hour or so from school. You live at Drovers right?"
"Yeah."
"You'll be on the same bus as me, Mark and Andy, unless someone's gonna drive you everyday."
"Nah, they've all got better things to do than drive me around."
"Sucks doesn't it."
"Definitely." Mark and Andrew chose that moment to re-appear from their 'mission.' Mark tapped his watch, "We've still got five minutes till the bell." Tarlia nodded and grabbed Mark in her arms, slamming her lips into his. Charlotte shook her head, as the two of them made out, hands running everywhere. She smiled at Andrew and pulled him to her. He melded to her immediately, slipping his tongue in, in the process. Both couple's escapades were interrupted by the loud ring of the school bell. They separated from their respective partners and stood to exit their hiding spot. Charlotte removed the jacket from her waist and slipped it on, pulling the zip up to cover her skimpy top. She grabbed Andrew's hand and followed they followed Mark and Tarlia into the frenzy of students.
Charlotte gave Andrew one last kiss as she grabbed her bag from the top of her locker. She opened the metal door and shoved a couple of folders into the canvas backpack, so to the outward observer it looked like she was taking her homework with her. In reality, she was just looking for something to cover her shopping bags with. "Charlotte," a voice called down the hall. Charlotte looked up and saw Tess coming towards her, "Gotta go," she said to Andrew, "Tess is coming." Andrew nodded and walked off to where Mark and Tarlia were waiting for him. "Hi Aunty Tess!" Charlotte exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to pick you up silly. Come on, utes out the front." Charlotte plastered a semi fake smile on her face and followed Tess down the hall, discreetly waving to Mark, Andrew and Tarlia, as she disappeared in the crowd of students.
Once they were seated comfortably in the ute, Tess started the motor and pulled out from the curb. "How was school today?"
"It was fine," Charlotte mumbled in response.
"I've arranged for you to take the bus from now on. The timetable should be in my pocket, I'll give it to you when we get home." Charlotte was silent. "You ok sweetie?"
"Yeah Aunty Tess, I'm fine, just really tired."
"Why don't you have a rest, I'll wake you when we get home." Charlotte nodded and dropped her head back against the seat, drifting off almost immediately. Tess sensed that there was something that Charlotte wasn't mentioning but chose not to question her about it, figuring that she would tell her when she was ready.
A/N: I'm gonna leave it there. Sorry for taking forever to update. I'll try and update again soon, but I've got English SAC's the next two weeks and a maths one next week too, so I'll be busy with that. Anyway let me know what you thought. Until next time… LOL Alyce :D
