A/N: So here's the proper Author's Note I promised! This chapter is a filler without being a filler, if that makes sense. I kinda need it in here, but it's still quite short. Still, we get to see more of Ally and Robert, and they make me happy. There's still a few things I want to change around - nothing important, just grammatical sentences and all that. Now to the sad news. Firstly, I won't be here for the next few days, as I am attending a program thingy. But I've started to write the next chapter, and it's going to be long. Does that make it up to you all? Secondly, NaNoWriMo starts in a couple of days, so I may not be updating as much as I have been these last weeks. Sorry! :D You know the drill, R&R!
"Hey girls," Charlie said as he came through the door. "Hey Chief Swan," I answered back, grabbing the pizza boxes he held. I had been rambling and explaining everything for a long time – it was almost six, and I was starving.
I opened one of the pizza boxes – Supreme. Urgh. The next one was Pepperoni, and I grabbed a slice. "Plate, Ally," Charlie said, shoving a small plate at me. I rolled my eyes as I chomped.
"Um, Dad?" Bella started, sitting back down at the table. Knowing what Bella was going to say, I moved into the living room, flicking on the TV so that their conversation was partly
"Yes, Bells?" Charlie replied absent-mindedly as he flickered through the paper.
"I don't need dinner tonight," she breathed. "Edward Cullen is taking me out for dinner." I heard the rustle of the newspaper stop.
"Edward Cullen?" Charlie managed to choke out. It sounded like he was going to have an aneurysm. "Yes…Edward Cullen," Bella said slowly. It wasn't antagonising or anything. It sounded more like she didn't want Charlie to have a heart attack. Chief Swan didn't say anything for a while.
"I thought you liked the Cullen's," Bella spoke softly. "He's too old for you," Charlie ranted. "Dad, we're both juniors," Bella pointed out. "Wait…which one is Edwin?" Charlie asked. I coughed, suppressing a laugh. I was going to have to remember that one.
Robert nudged me on the couch, grabbing a piece of half eaten pizza from my plate before shoving it in his mouth. I hit his arm, jerking the plate away. Thankfully, neither Charlie nor Bella could see me from here. Boys were such pigs – even ones who technically didn't even need to eat.
I continued playing my pettish game with Robert on the couch where no-one could see us. You know that game where you hit someone lightly on the arm, and they hit back, and then you hit back, until eventually you are hitting the other faster? That's what we were doing. Except having someone whose hands fly faster than a jet plane makes it more interesting. It was a game we used to play when I was younger.
"Ally?" I heard Bella call. I scrambled to sit up on the couch. I poked my head up like a meerkat, kicking my leg out as Robert started hitting my legs. "Yes?" I tried to speak in a normal voice. "Edward and I are leaving."
Bugger. I hadn't even noticed Edward arriving. "Oh, okay," I replied, jerking away from Robert's swatting hand. Even though I was no match for his strength, I grabbed it anyway, pinning it down on the sofa.
Edward narrowed his eyes slightly. Of course, my mind was now open for him to read, and I could tell by the expression of his face that he was not happy that we were mucking around – in front of Charlie, no less.
Oh well. Just because he didn't know the meaning of fun.
Edward's eyebrows rose. I smirked back at him, pushing Robert away so I could stand up.
"Have fun," I said, moving to sit on the kitchen countertop. There was an awkward silence as Bella and Edward stood together, Charlie eyeing Edward carefully from my side of the kitchen.
They murmured their goodbyes, Charlie following them outside. "You kids drive safe now," he called, waving to Bella from the front porch.
I yawned as I swung my legs against the counter. "Tired?" Robert asked. I shook my head. Two seconds later Charlie walked back into the kitchen.
"That's normal, isn't it?" Charlie asked, breaking the silence. "What's normal?" I asked, watching as Charlie tidied up the pizza boxes. "Girls and boys. Going out, I mean. That's normal, isn't it? Like the done thing these days?"
I rolled my eyes. "No, Chief Swan. You're supposed to engage her to a total stranger that she doesn't know who doesn't love her and only wants her to make copious copies of his DNA, preferably in the male form of the species," I replied.
Charlie just glanced at me.
"He likes her, doesn't he? He won't…" Charlie drifted off. "Hurt her?" I supplied. "Nope, Cullen won't do that. He…likes her too much," I answered, using Charlie's word. "And she likes him too of course," I added.
Charlie's next question made me almost fall off the counter. "And you? Is there anyone…special, in your life?" he asked, sounding quite uncomfortable. I laughed though, the echo of my voice bouncing off the walls.
"No," I choked out between my fits of laughter. Sitting up straight, I was serious. "No, there's no-one," I answered softly.
An awkward silence filled the room, not helped by the fact that Robert had once again made himself useful and disappeared.
Charlie had started doing the dishes. I reached over and turned the radio. Bennie and the Jets by Elton John came on, and I started singing along, pretending I was Elton with a piano and microphone.
"He's got black leather boot, a mohair suit, I read it in a magazine-ah! Charlie and the Jets," I sung, replacing the song with Charlie's name.
Charlie chuckled. "You've ruined a perfectly good song." I turned the radio down. "No I didn't. I just Charlie-fied it, that's all," I grinned.
Charlie just shook his head, taking a plate out of the sink and leaving it on the rack to dry.
"Have you thought at all about your future?" Chief Swan asked suddenly. It caught me off guard. "My future?" I repeated his words. "About what you want to do once you graduate," Charlie explained.
I raised my eyebrows. "That's a little…far down the track, don't you think?" Charlie just shrugged. I thought about it for a while. I hadn't thought about the future much, only in fleeting conversations or meetings to choose school electives.
"I guess it all depends really," I mused. "Depends on what?" I bit my lip. "Well, on a lot of things. I mean, the agency might move me before or during senior year to a whole new place in like…Arkansas or somewhere random." Charlie chuckled. "But it's true. The agency is nasty like that. And I think they kind of expect me to move around anyway. Apparently I'm legend in that office," I added, grinning with pride as Charlie just shook his head.
We were silent a bit more, the only noise the clanking of plates. "What about if you were to stay here?" Charlie asked a while later.
"In Forks?" I asked, Charlie nodding his head. "Well, I'm turning eighteen next year. Technically, I'm not under the care of the agency when I turn eighteen, and I don't have to stay in a Foster home. But I want to stay here. I like it here – the cold and the rain." Hopefully he didn't ask why I liked the cold so much. "Maybe go to Washington State, study business or something like that," I mused.
Charlie just nodded slowly, the plates clattering as he left them in the rack to dry. My legs were swinging against the counter and I looked at my legs. I really needed to shave.
"You like it here?" Charlie sounded surprised. I laughed. "Better than the sixty-eight million other places I've been forced to live. People let you be here. Plus like I said, the weather's nice."
Charlie stood in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. "Um, well. That's nice to know. There's a game on TV and –" I laughed, jumping down from the counter. "I understand Chief Swan. Go watch your game. I have homework to finish anyway."
I trudged upstairs, not really wanting to do the thirty odd Calculus questions we had been assigned for homework. In my room, Robert was stretched out on my bed, his elbows propping him up as he read a book.
I flopped down beside him, ducking to see the cover. "Room with a View?" I laughed. "At the side of the everlasting Why, there is a yes! And a yes! And a yes!" I quoted, turning onto my back and flinging arms out. Robert flipped a page, ignoring me.
I furrowed my brow. I leant my body in closer to Robert's, turning so that I could whisper into his ear. "Robert." His head turned. "Mmm?" was his reply. "Woah, spacing out much?" I laughed. Robert just shook his head. "I'm trying to read," he said, getting back to the book. I rolled my eyes. No fun.
I grinned mischievously. I shot my hand out, closing the book shut and losing his page. "Don't you just hate in when you lose your page?" I smiled sweetly. Sighing, he shoved the book away from him.
"You are being terribly irritating," he muttered. "I'm bored," I complained. "And Charlie was acting strange downstairs. He kept going on about what I wanted to do…in the future." Robert just raised his eyebrows. "Maybe the guy is curious," Robert replied thoughtfully.
I scoffed. "Sure, curious. Curious about what? Maybe they've found a new foster family for me after all. I mean, Charlie was only meant to be temporary…" I trailed off.
Robert slid off the bed. "Don't fret too much about it. I highly doubt that Charlie is going to send you away," he said. I had my eyes closed, but they jerked open when I felt something heavy hit the bed.
Sitting up, I saw my Calculus book and file by my side. I groaned. "Can't we watch Supernatural or something?" I complained.
"After," was his only reply.
I glared at Robert. "Yes, Mum," I muttered sarcastically. There was no reply. He was engrossed in the book again.
Sighing, I opened my Calculus book and started doing my homework.