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 have another update…finally. I was hoping that when McLeod's started again I would have some inspiration for this, but unfortunately that hasn't happened, so I can't make any promises about when I will update again. Coupled with the insanity that is my life at the moment, I won't be updating any of my Alias fics until at least Mid-April, discounting stockpiled chapters, because I'm going home for the holidays and I'm not taking my computer with me. I will try my best to update this at least once a month, but until I get some more inspiration that is the best I can promise…sorry.

CSIcrazy-thanks for reviewing…I'm glad you like this fic. As it says above, I don't own any of the credit for the initial idea for this fic, it was my amazing friend, who I miss dearly. I wasn't sure about having charlotte was a rebel-ly character but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense, given the fact that she wasn't raised by Claire. Hope you got your kitten out (I miss my cat so much), my cat loves to climb all over my computer when I'm working on something and not paying attention to him, it's cute, but gets so annoying…

Nikki-thanks for reviewing. When I say Coota, I do mean Mallacoota, I just call it Coota when I can't be bothered writing the whole name. Your sister used to live in Mallacoota? I probably knew her then. Why did she move away?

Chapter 6

Charlotte rolled over in her bed, looking at her clock. It was almost eleven. Groaning, she decided to get up and have a shower. She surveyed herself in the mirror, noticing that she was still wearing her outfit from the night before. Knowing that the possibility of anyone else, namely Tess, being in the house, she grabbed a pair of old jeans and a baggy t-shirt, and headed into the bathroom to have a long hot shower.

As the water pelted down on her skin, she inspected her skin, trying to find any evidence of last night's tryst with Andrew. Inwardly cursing herself for having too many drinks, she stepped out of the shower, trying to ignore the thumping pain in her head. Turning the tap on over the basin, she grabbed the glass that lived next to the sink and filled it with water, downing it in two gulps and quickly re-filling it.

"Charlotte, you up?" she heard Tess call.

"I'll be out in a minute," she replied, tying her hair into a messy ponytail, and fishing through the bathroom cabinet hoping to find some Panadol. Unable to locate any painkillers, she gathered up her dirty clothes and dumped them in her bedroom, shutting the door securely before going downstairs.

"Did you have a good sleep? You were dead to the world when I got home."

"Yeah, it was great. I guess I was more exhausted than I thought."

"What are you going to do this afternoon?"

"I was gonna take Phoenix for a ride, if that was ok?"

"Sure, but I want you to clean the yards and the horse gear before dinner."
"Why?" Charlotte asked snidely "Don't you pay people to do that?"

"Charlotte, I know you've only been here a week, but I still expect you to pull your finger out and help around here, and that means not sleeping in till lunchtime. There's far too much for us to do without having to…"

"Without having to, what? Look after me? I don't need someone to mother me, I can look after myself, I've had to for long enough. Why did you let Dad take me Tess, he didn't give a shit about me, he dumped me in Boarding School so he wouldn't have to deal with me everyday"

"Charlotte…"

"I'm going for a ride." Charlotte stood up and rushed out of the house, almost collecting Meg as she went through the laundry, picking up her hat as she wiped away the tears that had fallen.

Meg came into the kitchen and saw Tess sitting there, her head in her hands. "What's wrong with Charlotte?" Tess didn't say anything, "Tess?"

"I asked her to do some work, said that she can't just sit around while everyone else does all the work."

"Tess…"

"She hates Peter so much, and she blames me for her being put in Boarding School, says that it was my fault 'cause I was the one that let Peter have her, and you know what? She's right, if I had've listened to Claire and looked after her myself, then maybe she wouldn't feel the way she does."

"Tess, you couldn't have known that that was what Peter was going to do with her."

"I could've prevented it though…if I had've had the guts to look after her here…"

"Tess, there's no point in dwelling on the past, she's here now, and that's what matters most, she's here where she belongs and you've got to take care of her, no matter what she says." Meg gave Tess a comforting hug, and motioned for her to follow Charlotte.

Charlotte hurriedly saddled Phoenix, and urged the young horse forward as fast as she could. By the time Tess got to the horse yards, Charlotte was long gone. Feeling the need to go after her only niece, Tess saddled her horse, and took off at a trot, allowing the horse time to warm up before they sped up.

Charlotte rode in no particular direction, and eventually ended up on one of the hills that surrounded Drovers Run. Looking off into the distance, she spotted the river and followed it, curious as to where it would lead, not really caring that she didn't know the property all that well, since whenever she came out to visit Drovers everyone was too busy working to go riding with her. She ended up near the National Park and jumped off to open the gate, allowing her access to the large expanse of bush that spread along one boundary of the large property.

After a couple of hours of fruitless searching, Tess went back to the house, hoping that Charlotte had turned up. She unsaddled her sweaty horse and gave it a quick hose, remembering something she was told when she was much younger, 'the horses needs always come first.' When she was told it at the time, she thought it was just another way for the adults to get out of looking after the horses, but now when she really thought about it, their horses were so important to the running of Drovers, that they deserved to be well looked after, no matter how tired she was at the end of a long day of work. Stevie walked past while Tess was scrapping the excess water off her horses body, "Where's Phoenix?"

"She's not back yet?"

"No, I was looking for her earlier, but I can't find her."

"Charlotte took her out earlier, but I honestly thought she would've calmed down by now."

"What do you mean calmed down by now?"
"We had an argument and she took off, I couldn't find her."

"And you gave up?" Tess gave her an 'what's your problem with that' look, "Tess she doesn't know the property all that well, what if she's hurt?"

"I looked everywhere, I can't find her. I don't know where else to go."

"Did you check Claire's grave?"

"That was the first place I looked. I'll take the Ute out in a minute, I'm just gonna finish with my horse."

"I'll come."

Charlotte was riding down the gravel road that weaved through the National Park, trying to find her way out to the main road. She cursed herself for not paying more attention to where she was going, while she was on her way away from the house. Eventually she ended up on the main road from Gungellan, and she sped up to a canter, beginning the long ride back to Drovers Run.

A/N: ok it's a little short…sorry. I'll update again as soon as I can. Tell me what you thought…