Quick note. This chapter and the next are happening almost all at once. They're from different people's points of view.

Cigarette Investigations

~Charlie Swans Pov~

Looking out the window over the sink into his best friends back yard Charlie Swan choked a little on his coffee when he saw the naked upper body of a teenager that seemed to be asleep right inside the tree line.

"Billy?"

"Yeah?"

"You know that Lahote kid is asleep out in the trees behind your house?"

He heard a chuckle from the living room.

"Yeah."

"So… you know?"

"Yeah. I know he's there."

Charlie could have sworn he heard him say "gonna be pissed off when his furry ass wakes up too." under his breath.

Choosing to ignore whatever his friend was mumbling about, he narrowed his eyes to try and take in the whole scene.

One brief glance around the back yard didn't tell him much but it gave him an idea of what could possibly have happened.

A few buckets with what looked like rainwater were sitting by what look to be 4 patches of lawn that were worn down till the dirt was showing through around a pile of sticks in the center.

"Billy you know that bonfires are only allowed out at the beach, right?"

A coughing fit that turned into full-blown laughter from the living room followed that question. Charlie wasn't too worried about his friend's continued laughed because they'd been watching that damn South Park. He didn't think much of the show, but Billy thought it was hilarious. He figured he'd just let his friend continue to watch the show as he tried to add up what he wasn't seeing.

It was still 3 hours till kick-off and besides Charlie had a gut feeling that something just wasn't adding up. He needed to squash that feeling or it might affect the whole game or keep him from paying attention to it.

He didn't think his best friend would let any of the res kids have a bonfire this close to his house but being the Forks Police Chief, he figured maybe he'd check to make sure Billy didn't forget or something. Maybe he'd had a bit too much of Old Quil's "medicine" last night or something. Otherwise, he couldn't see how Billy could forget since he was the Tribal Chief. Still, a fire that close would easily burn both house and garage down and Billy wasn't as mobile as he used to be.

"You didn't have any of Old Quil's shine last night, did you?"

Billy had just started to calm down and then it sounded like he began to have a bit of trouble breathing.

"You ok in there?" Charlie asked as he kept his steady gaze on the back yard. He just knew he was missing something.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine." His friend said between coughs. When he seemed to calm down again he added. "I took a shot right before bed, but I was pretty busy with tribal things last night." Billy wheezed, "Trust me, Charlie, there was absolutely no danger…. of there being any bonfire here…. Especially last night." He finally got out between breaths.

He knew that his old friend wouldn't lie to him, but Charlie's mustache still twitched. A sure sign that something wasn't exactly right. That's when he decided that he'd just get some fresh air and maybe check things out.

"Billy, I'm gonna step out on the porch to smoke a cigarette," he told him while swinging opening the backscreen door.

"Sure, sure. You know you oughta quit that."

"Yeah yeah yeah." Truth be known, he hadn't had a cigarette because he truly wanted it in over a year.

Mostly.

But he did find them handy in situations when he needed a little time alone, like right then.

Lighting one up, just for effect, he took a drag off it and stepped down off the porch in the direction of Billy's garage. He knew that he was going in the opposite direction of where he really needed to, but you never could tell who would show up and he didn't want to be seen checking anything to specific out. Seeing as how there was nothing in their back yard for cover, that meant he had to stay close to the back of the house and then the garage to get to the tree line.

When he finally skirted down and around the buildings and started around the tree line closer to where he saw Paul laying, Charlie flicked the cigarette to the side and looked around as if he were studying the trees or weather. He'd been inching a bit closer when he heard the familiar voice of his daughters' best friend saying, "I am NOT removing that from him."

'What the hell' he thought. Not giving a thought at how he looked at that point. Quickly he took a step closer to the bushes and crouched down, slowly edging a little forward. He couldn't make out who the voice that answered Jake belonged to but whoever it was said, "Jake. He's passed out.." the rest of the statement was said to quiet for him to hear.

Charlie's eyebrows furrowed at that. He was about to inch a bit closer when he heard Jacob loud and clear when the boy said, "I don't ask you to remove anything from Quil or Embry's asses."

That statement made him freeze.

This time the reply was so low that he couldn't hear any of it. So, he slowly crept further along.

Then those same eyebrows of his shot up trying to reach his hairline when he heard Sam Uley, say, "It's already been in there overnight Jake. You know the longer it stays the tighter it's going to get around it and it's going to be harder to get out."

Charlie gently pulled a couple leaves away from the bush in front of him to give him a visual and quickly put them back.

'Ok didn't need to see that.' He shook head to try and get the mental image of his best friends' son and Sam's junk out of his mind. 'Wait…why the hell are they naked?'

It didn't fit with his previous notion of the boys and their activities. He'd gotten some disturbing reports about these kids and what they might have been up to, But now he was questioning whether they may have been false.

'Ok so maybe they're not a gang.' Charlie took a few minutes and rolled it over in his mind trying to put together everything that he'd heard over the last few months about these kids and especially the change in the kid that was like family to him.

'They walk around half-naked. They're always with each other. None of them ever go anywhere by themselves. There's never any females with them. Huh…maybe…' Still crouched down he turned back to the conversation behind the bushes and strained his ears to continued to try to pick up what was being said, without the visual.

"Well, I think you're going to have to push it in a little further, move it around to open it up wider to pull it out. Quickly. Very Quickly"

That last statement seemed to confirm what he was thinking, 'Yep.' Charlie nodded to himself, 'No wonder Bells and Jake haven't gotten together.' He knew that he would need to tell his daughter so that she didn't get her hopes up. She seemed to be doing so much better with Jake at her side. But he wouldn't let her be lead on either. He put those thoughts away for later.

Back to dealing with the situation at hand it still didn't sit right with him that they were going to do things to a boy that was clearly passed out. Just as he was about to confront them, he heard Jacob say. "He's going to be pissed, you know that right?"

'Good' Charlie thought, 'maybe they'll just leave him be.' Then he heard Sam say, "Look, he'll be mad at first because he's going to wake up when you pull it out and it's going to hurt. But once he calms down, he'll be glad that we helped him pull it out. It's not exactly in a spot that he'd be able to do it himself easily without causing himself a lot more pain. After we'll take him to my place to let him heal completely."

"I am kicking the shit out of Quil for getting them drunk. He's the whole reason that it got stuck in his ass in the first place."

Charlie, who was more than a little relieved to find out that they were actually going to be helping instead of molesting that poor kid, began backing away from what he viewed as a very intimate and personal scene.

It took him about 5 minutes to slowly make his way back up to the garage, all the while smoking another cigarette.

That he only used for cover.

Just as he was about to pass the garage heading toward the steps of the back porch, he heard, "SON OF A MOTHER FUCKING GOD DAMN BITCH. SOMEONE IS GOING TO FUCKING DIE!" as a very awake, very naked Paul Lahote literally tore ass out of the woods and jumped into the air.

Now Charlie considered himself a reasonably smart, rational man, but what happened next defied rationality. Right before his eyes, Paul Lahote, reformed res troublemaker, burst into a bear-sized silver wolf.

Charlie's whole body went on autopilot.

So, while his mouth shouted, "WHAT THE HELL", his hand pulled his gun and begun firing at the wolf.

Said wolf then whipped around at the sound of the first shot, with his teeth bared, then its eyes went wide and he took off in a run toward the woods as the next 5 came flying its way.

Charlie knew that at least 3 hit him from the yelps and growls he heard as the wolf crossed back over into the woods.

He stood there for a bit shaking, trying and failing to come up with any sort of plausible explanation of what just happened. Then he heard the screen door squeak a bit and looked over at his best friend who seemed to be both laughing and crying at the same time.

His eyes narrowed at the man in the wheelchair, "Billy!"

When the Tribal Chief looked over at him, he watched as the man was wiping away tears of laughter. Glaring at his best friend, he said through gritted teeth, "I think we need to have a talk."

Still laughing, Billy nodded as he backed his chair into the house, "Sure, sure. Come on. I gotta call Old Quil to come over anyway. He'll think this is funny as hell."~