Disclaimer: If you think I have any claim to Twilight, you need to check your facts.
A/N #1: This is a little different from the last two chapters, but in a good way (I hope). I wanted to give Charlie, Esme and Carlisle a bit of time to shine. It also helps that I am currently drawn to fics that set up Charlie as a caring dad rather than an absent/indifferent parent, not that those that don't aren't good either.
So without further delay, I give you Bella and Edward's first meeting!
Charlie Swan sat at a kitchen table alongside the Cullens for the first time in five years. Across from him was his best friend since high school, Carlisle Cullen, and over to the right, fussing with a little brown haired girl, stood Esme Cullen.
From the moment he contemplated the move back to Forks, he knew that the Cullens would be there to support him with whatever he needed. In fact, their support is what brought him to the Cullen house this day.
Eight months ago, Charlie watched as his then wife Renee left in the arms of some minor league ball player without even a second glance. In truth, despite how horrible it sounded, he was relieved as their relationship had not been what he wanted in a long while.
Charlie met Renee just before his graduation from a police academy in Seattle. For years Swan men had served on the Forks force with pride in their step. Charlie was all set to continue this tradition, until the hurricane that is Renee swept into his life. When they first met, she was reserved, quiet and seemed to enjoy the simple things in life. To Charlie, these qualities were his ideal, so it was no wonder that he fell in love. Their proceeding marriage was rushed, despite the concerns of his family and friends.
As he was preparing to join the Forks Police Department, Renee began to express distaste towards living a small town life. Unwilling to lose who he thought was the love of his life, Charlie readily agreed to a move to a larger city...Phoenix.
It was in Phoenix that Renee began to show her true colors. She became flighty and unreliable, especially after they brought a child into the world. It wasn't until later that Charlie realized that the woman he fell in love with did not exist and instead he was bound to her polar opposite.
Eight months ago, with a stack of signed papers weighed down by a ring, Charlie Swan became a single dad. His first act as such was to contact Forks PD to secure a place on the force. One month later, he shipped off his belongings to his hometown and hopped a plane with his two year old baby.
He looked to his right, smiling softly at the little girl squirming in a high chair. His little Isabella, the only good thing he had to show from the last few years. He couldn't help but be filled with pride as he took in her image, porcelain skin, reddened cheeks, his mother's wavy brown locks and his own brown eyes. It seemed that the only resemblance that this little girl had to...her...was the heart shaped face she possessed. Every other trait, quality and feature could be attributed to a Swan relative from the last eighty years.
Charlie watched with amusement as the little one that had stolen his heart from the moment she existed wiggled around in the high chair, making it a game to avoid Esme's attempts at taming her wispy waves.
"Sweetie," Esme cooed, "You have to sit still so I can fix your hair. Don't you want to look pretty for your birthday?"
"Noooo!" Little Bella squealed with a giggle as she reached her chubby hands to her father. "Daaaddee!"
Charlie laughed, immensely thankful that Carlisle and Esme were so willing to help him with little Bells. As far as he was concerned, he knew nothing about little girls, so he was happy to have Esme's insight and be able to provide his daughter with a reliable female presence.
He rose from his chair to try and calm the little wiggler down. "Bellsy," he spoke softly as her little hand grasped his fingers. "Calm down, Esme needs to fix your hair."
"Nooo," she whined again, as she brought Charlie's hand to her head. "You!"
"Honey," Charlie answered in a soothing voice, "Daddy can't make you're hair pretty like Esme can, don't you want to look pretty? It's your birthday today, you should look pretty."
Bella's brown eyes lit up, "Birfday! Birfday! Birfday! Me! Me!"
"That's right Bell," he laughed, "It's your birthday! How old are you?"
"F-reeeee! Imma big grrrl." The little girl answered with glee. Carlisle and Esme were shocked at her ability to answer. They could barely get Alice, their own three year old daughter, to pay attention when they spoke to her, let alone answer back correctly.
"Uh-huh," Charlie responded, "And big girls know how to sit still. Look at Alice." Charlie directed her attention to the tiny tot with neatly groomed jet black hair that Carlisle was feeding without issue.
"Big grrrl," Bella declared before trying her best to imitate a statue.
Esme couldn't help but laugh as she quickly combed through Bella's mahogany waves before plaiting a braid into her overgrown bangs and securing it with a yellow clip. "There you go sweetie, all done! Want to see how pretty you are?" She asked as she lifted a mirror for the little girl to see.
Bella studied her reflection before patting the braid in her hair. "Pwetty," she whispered, then turned to her father and smiled.
"Very pretty Bellsy," Charlie confirmed. "Now that you're all fixed up, are you hungry?"
"Yes!" "A mischievous look crossed Bella's face as she locked her chocolate eyes with her father's own identical pair. "Daaaddee," Bella sang sweetly, "Cake?"
The adults laughed, it was clear that this girl knew that she had her father completely wrapped around her little finger.
"Bellaaa," Charlie himself whined as he pressed his forehead against hers, "You know you can't look at me like that."
The little girl pouted her cherry lips and lifted her palm to Charlie's face. "Pweeeaase, Daaaddee."
Charlie groaned in defeat and took her little hand in his own. "Okay," he conceded, watching as Bella's eyes lit up with joy, "But you have to eat something else first."
Bella pondered a moment then responded sweetly. "'Kay"
"Good girl," Charlie praised before standing up, "What do you want?"
"Mmmm," she looked at the table where Esme had laid out her birthday feast. She watched as Carlisle fed Alice something bright orange, then watched the little pixie lick her lips with a smile. "Dat, pwease!" Bella asked as she pointed to the bowl Carlisle was holding.
"Alright, Bellsy," Charlie answered as he moved to spoon some of the substance into a bowl for his own little girl. "Macaroni and Cheese it is."
"And you said you needed help with her," Esme said as she secured a bright blue bib around Bella's neck. This particular one had a little yellow duck standing in a puddle on the front. Charlie had refused to try and dress his little girl in things that he didn't understand nor appreciate, things such as lacy frills and pink bunnies.
Charlie simply shrugged. "It's times like these that I really think I can handle it. But then there are others..."
"Charlie," Carlilse spoke, "Parenting can't be a walk in the park all of the time. But those times when you don't think you can manage it, that's what Esme and I are here for."
Charlie nodded, "You have no idea how glad I am that you took the job at Forks hospital."
Carlisle had just graduated from medical school in Seattle and he and Esme wholeheartedly agreed that there was no other place than Forks that they wanted to raise their family. The moment he was offered a job at the hospital, Esme quickly prepared the home that her grandmother had willed to her in preparation for their toddlers. As of last week, the Cullens were now permanent residents of Forks, Washington.
While they kept in touch, opting for almost daily phone calls an emails, this was the first time that the Charlie, Carlisle and Esme and their children were under one roof. Despite the unfortunate underlying circumstances, the three adults were pleased that they could raise their children together, in their hometown, as they had originally planned.
"And just think when she hits her teens, you have me to ship her off to," Esme piped in, hoping to inject humor into the conversation.
Charlie made a sound that can only be described as a half-laugh/half-groan. "Let's not discuss that until much, much later."
Esme shrugged her shoulders, "I was just saying..."
"Well I for one am glad to have another man around to help with my boys. Those two are a hand full," Carlisle interjected.
"Yes," Esme let out a sigh of relief, "Emmett was hard enough when it was two against one, now Edward is starting to make mischief of his own."
Charlie laughed. "Yeah, well you give me a hand with Bella and I have no problem dealing with the terrors."
"Deal," both Esme and Carlisle agreed enthusiastically.
"Speaking of, where are Emmett and Edward?" Charlie questioned.
"Oh, they were watching that ridiculous DVD about farm animals that Carlisle swears will turn his sons into super geniuses-"
"Hey," Carlisle tried to argue.
Esme ignored her husband's exclamation, which caused Charlie to chuckle. "But Emmett moved on to the monster truck you brought him and Edward is napping on the couch."
Just then a little boy with dark curls and dimples raced his way into the kitchen on all fours. "Vroom, Vroom!"
Esme scooped the little boy in her arms before sitting him at the table. "Emmett, sweetie, are you hungry?"
At the mention of food, Emmett's baby blues sparkled. "Yum, yum in my tummy!" He exclaimed while rubbing the aforementioned tummy.
There was nothing anyone could do but chuckle as Esme set a four-and-a-half-year-old safe plate of food in front of the growing tot. The chuckles quickly turned into full blown laughter as the little boy used his hands to shovel food into his mouth with gusto.
Not a moment too soon, Carlisle noticed that something, or rather someone was missing. "Emmett," he turned to his oldest son, "Where is Edward?"
Emmett's nose scrunched in dismay, "Eddie cranky."
"Oh, no," Esme declared, "Looks like someone woke up from his unplanned nap."
"I'll get him," Carlisle moved to get up just as a set of quiet footsteps made their way into the kitchen.
Everyone looked over to see a little boy with penny colored cowlick hair and deep green eyes standing in the doorway, clutching a blue blanket.
"Momma," Edward murmured as he lifted a hand to rub his sleepy eyes.
"Come here sweetie," Esme walked over and picked the boy up. "Did you have a nice nap?"
"Mmhmm," he answered quietly. "I'm F-irsty."
"Okay," Esme said, placing Edward in a high chair that was next to the brown eyed girl's and handing him a sippy cup. "Here's your juice."
Edward struggled slightly, but was eventually able to have a sip. As his cup dropped the onto his tray with a bang, a light laugh caught his attention.
The little boy turned his attention to the direction of the noise and saw the little girl sitting in his sister's high chair. He reached to grab his mothers attention, brows furrowed. "Who's dat?" He asked bluntly.
"This is Bella, Edward," Esme answered, "Can you say Bel-la?"
"Bay-yah," Edward tried, but could not form the sounds correctly. He shook his head to try again, "Bey-lah."
"That's pretty close buddy," Charlie leaned over to ruffle his copper hair, then turned to his own child. "Bellsy, this is Edward. Can you say 'hello' to Edward?"
Bella looked over shyly before whispering, "Heh-oh."
Emerald green eyes continued to study the little girl. After a moment of silence, the orbs locked onto Bella's bib. "Momma," Edward pointed excitedly, "Momma, Momma!"
"What is it, Edward?" Esme asked.
"Duuu-, Duh-," Edward began, trying to form a word. "Du-cky." He nodded proudly, declaring the word once again, "Ducky!"
"What is he on about?" Carlisle questioned.
"I think he was talking about Bella's bib...," Esme whispered, amazed.
"What?"
This time Charlie answered, "There's a duckling...on Bella's bib."
Carlisle paused for a moment, then grinned widely. "And you said that DVD was a waste of money," he stated smugly.
"Oh, hush," Esme tried to silence him. Unfortunately, she was not successful and they launched into a useless disagreement, much to the Charlie's amusement.
Despite the petty argument going on in the background, green eyes remained locked with brown. Thankfully, after a few minutes Esme and Carlisle's 'discussion' came to a close, just in time to hear a little whisper.
"Quu-ack."
This caused the adults to turn their attention to Bella. It also caused Edward's little face to light up with happiness.
"Ducky," Edward spoke once more.
The responding "Quu-ack" was slightly louder.
Edward laughed, "Ducky."
"Quack!" Bella danced and wriggled in her seat.
"Ducky!"
"Quack!"
"Ducky!"
"Quack!"
Their exchange grew increasingly loud and laugh-filled until nothing but laughter filled the kitchen. Even Emmett and bouncy Alice had erupted into giggles.
The adults were slightly shocked and remained quiet as the toddlers continues to enjoy themselves. Thankfully Charlie was broken out of his trance when Bella's sippy cup became a casualty to her endless giggles and landed on the floor.
He exhaled in disbelief before turning to address his best friend, a smug-yet-proud smile plastered on his face.
"My kid didn't need a stupid DVD. Now how about that cake?"
A/N #2: And there you have it, the final (for now, anyway) chapter of this little ditty. I hope you guys liked it! Thanks for reading and reviews (whenever possible) are always appreciated!