Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N: This is a continuation of my oneshot "Remembering Them". If you haven't read that, then I suggest you read it in order to get the gist of what this story's continuing from. If you have, excellent. Several requested this, and I've wanted to write this since the oneshot, so here it is. Enjoy!

Chapter 3 (The Race)

Lunch wasn't easy, the girls were being held by their teacher to get some work done, so Charlotte was currently alone. She never really understood their English teacher all that much, but somehow, Mr. Dingwall always gave her good marks. To an extent, it creeped her out, but he did tell her that he was often sorry for the loss of her family. When she was younger, she was used for an English project and was known as the baby that made the entire class puke. How embarrassing! It wasn't like she was worried about being popular or anything, she wasn't popular, but she didn't want to go down as the baby that made Mr. Dingwall's class vomit their lunches.

She had her head resting on her hand and was gazing down at the food in front of her, fish sticks and macaroni, it was one of the better meals prepared by the school cafeteria. She stirred her barbeque sauce with an absent gesture. Next to her was the laptop, she managed to talk Skyler into letting her have it in case she saw Mason during lunch, but she made no attempt to find him or to look at any of the videos. How could she after this morning? Skyler wanted the computer back before the end of lunch, though, as well as an update on how everything went.

Her entire world was spinning after watching that last video, she couldn't get it out of her head. Even her brother's attitude scared her, almost like he knew what was going to happen, that he would never be coming back. She closed her eyes as her body twitched with the memory. She knew she would regret watching it, but she wanted to please her friend. Sure, she didn't have to, and Regina was upset with her for even bothering, but she had been compelled.

"Hey, Duncan!" Her eyebrows rose as a familiar masculine voice rang in her ears. Before she could react, a football came flying her way. She yelped and quickly grabbed it out of the air before it collided with her. When she lowered her hands, her eyes moved in a glare to a tall, bulky boy with lightly dark skin and short, curly black hair. His beautifully deep brown eyes rested onto her and his lips curled into a smile. "Good catch."

"Mason, what if that hit me?"

"Then I guess I'd be in trouble with the school nurse. That's a scarier thought than pissing off the Coach." Charlotte rolled her eyes as he walked up to her and sat down. Skyler wasn't that scary. If anything, it was PJ that would scare him more, given how protective her brother was. He pointed to her fish sticks. "Are you going to eat those?"

"You can get your own, football star."

"Aw, but I'm all out of money for lunch. Also, I'm only a running back, not the quarterback." He pouted his lip and she arched up her eyebrow. She thought he was adorable whenever he tried his best attempt at a puppy face.

"Running back or not, it doesn't change a thing. As for your money situation, that's just too bad, but I suppose I can share them with you." She took four of the eight fish sticks and set them in his hand. He grinned and immediately tossed one into his mouth. "One day you're going to have to stop scrounging off my food, you know that, right?"

"I would, but it's just so tempting!"

"You live with your uncle, right?" He nodded and she breathed out a tired sigh. How could he live with his uncle, a record producer, and not have money for lunch? "Then you should have plenty of money for food."

"Yeah, maybe I do, or maybe I just like coming to see you." She arched her eyebrow and watched him pop another fish stick into his mouth. He always ate like a pig, it was a wonder he was still thin and well built. She moved her eyes to a group of football players a few tables away in the corner of the cafeteria. She carefully tapped her finger against her right temple and moved her eyes to Mason, who just snatched a bite of her macaroni.

"You know. Your jock friends might not be happy with you spending your lunches with a debate club member." She often teased him about the social system of the school, but she knew no one really cared. They'd been hanging out for a long time, so it was just natural, and nobody would ask that they not hang out.

` "Yeah well if I let that bother me, then I wouldn't be able to get any tutoring done."

"Uh huh. You make better grades than I do, what's the point of having a tutor?"

"Well…" She was goading him in now, she wanted to see how far he would go in his reason for actually spending time with her. Sure they knew each other for a few years, off and on, but he wasn't quite as close to her as Regina and Dee were. "I was actually wondering how you were doing today. I mean, I saw you with Regina and Dee earlier, so I thought I would check up on you." Her eyebrows rose and she quickly spooned her macaroni from the tray.

"Well. That's sweet of you. I'm fine though. I did want to show you something." She pushed her tray over to him and pulled her laptop over. She'd lost her interest in the food, so she figured why not let him have it. "We knew each other as babies, Mason!" He coughed on a piece of fish stick and beat his chest as she flipped open the computer.

"Really? We did?" Gabe had installed a camera in the room to record the baby race, as she was camera shy and PJ wanted to win.

"Yep, we had a crawling race. I won."

"Oh did you?" He raised an eyebrow as her lip curled up satisfactorily.

"Yup, just watch." She brought the video button up and pressed play. Mason stared at the image of himself on the screen and started chuckling. "What's wrong?"

"That's me…as a baby…in your sister's video stuff." She paused to take in the tone of his voice and laughed. Could it be, he was embarrassed that she had something of him that was baby related?

"Well I think you made an adorable baby, Mason." His cheeks went red as he watched the race. After a minute, Charlie actually stood up and walked, evidently for the first time. "Hah! See, I beat you!" His jaw fell and Charlotte pumped her fist into the air.

"What? No, that's impossible! I demand a rematch! I can outrun you any day!" She laughed again and hugged Mason, sympathizing with him. She caught him blushing again and smirked triumphantly. "Hey, I know I may not be the best runner on the football team, but I can surely outrun you."

"I don't know Mason, you might have a challenge there."

"Never!" Once the laughter died down and they relaxed a bit, Charlotte was already looking through the list of videos. She felt Mason put his arm around her shoulder, much to her surprise, but she definitely wasn't complaining. She had to wonder if he even noticed. "You know. Your family was awesome."

"Yeah they were…I…wish I knew them."

"I know how you feel there." She pressed her lips together and let her eyes continue to search the list. Mason's mother and father passed away years ago, one died of a burst appendix while the other passed away in a car accident. So he lived with his uncle, who happened to be the elder brother of the two. It was a painful subject, but the one real common ground that helped the two come together. "You've lived with your brother and Nurse Duncan all your life, right?"

"Yeah." As the world started to return to her, she wondered how Mason managed to distract her from the sadness that was the videos. Since he showed up, she couldn't think on her family. "You know…Skyler wasn't always the way she is, she was actually a big airhead back in the day." Mason's eyebrows rose and he quickly tried to protest.

"Nurse Duncan? That doesn't seem right! How?"

"Believe me. Motherhood, raising a child, and taking care of a man who lost his entire family…it can really kick some sense into a person. Just, never tell her I told you that about her, she might not be all that thrilled about it. Or, what I'm about to show you…" She grinned mischievously as she moved over to a folder that she'd never really seen until recently. It had a bunch of songs performed by Teddy and Skyler. "Skyler and Teddy were pretty good friends back then."

"Oh cool!" Charlotte grinned and clicked on the first video, which consisted of the two singing a song about Spencer, Teddy's boyfriend. Mason's jaw dropped momentarily as he started to realize who the song was about. "Spencer W…Coach Walsh! He's a football coach over at North High!" That stunned her. Why would Spencer play for the rival team?

"Really?"

"Yeah! I'm surprised both Teddy and Skyler dated him…also surprised to know that he cheated on them." She nodded and watched as the video went on. Skyler started laughing at something completely random, then stopped and said something about how she never knew squirrels would store nuts away in the winter. Mason raised an eyebrow as Charlotte covered her snickering grin with her hand. "Wow. She was an airhead!"

"I told you. But now she's oddly able to outsmart us and knows a lot about a lot of things…I guess it's true what they say about experience and hard times…"

"Makes you stronger. Seems like Nurse Duncan would have had to be strong for you and PJ."

"Yeah it does…" Her eyes dropped once more and she tried to imagine everything Skyler would have had to put up with. She would have had to be a mother from the moment she decided to stay with PJ. Factor in college, long hours studying, taking care of Charlotte and making sure PJ kept his head up, Skyler would have definitely had to stay ahead of the game. "She certainly deserves a lot of appreciation…I guess."

"You really miss your family don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"PJ, Skyler and Rebecca are your family now…I mean, they're here. That's how I view my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin." She pressed her lips together and moved her eyes to one of the last video clips in the file. She had to consider Mason had a point. PJ, Skyler and Rebecca were her family now, and she was spending more time watching the videos of the family she wanted to have than she was spending time with the family she did have. "Memories are great, but when it all comes down to it, that's all they are. They're memories, but goodones. Ones that you get to play whenever you like, but don't forget to remember the ones you have in order to make new memories with. I bet you have plenty of memories with PJ and Skyler. You're always going to love and miss your mom, dad, Teddy, Gabe, but…you have PJ and Skyler, just like I have my Aunt and Uncle."

She thought for a moment and smiled slightly, indeed she had plenty of memories with them. She was also trying to record these memories and lessons for Teddy Jr. She still wasn't sure whether to call her Teddy or Rebecca, but that didn't matter now. Absently, she clicked the last video in the file of songs and watched as Teddy and Skyler stood with two microphones in their hands. The title of the file had been 'Song for Charlie', which was why she'd been attracted to it. Mason turned his head to the screen and smiled as the video played

"Okay, I think I got this down right," Skyler said as she stared at the lyrics sheet. "You wanted me to come in after the first line?" Teddy flashed a toothy grin and closed her eyes.

"Yes Skyler, that's what I want. This song is for Charlie, it's going to go with all of the video diaries I'm making. I want you here too because I think it would be cool if you sang with me." Skyler lifted her eyebrows and retained her sweet, but mildly confused smile. "You're already like a big part of her life. You're dating her big brother."

"You really think she'll know me in the future?"

"You never know."

"Why isn't Ivy singing with us then?"

"Because she's busy choreographing a dance routine at school."

"Okay then…So let's go!"

Charlotte smiled as she listened to the music play. She moved her hands to her chest and felt a tear hugging her eyelid. Teddy and Skyler looked so full of life, so happy, and so perfect in the view of the camera

Teddy took a step forward and turned her head to the side with her hand on her hip and face towards the camera. "Today's all burnt toast, running late, dad jokes-"

"Has anybody seen my left shoe!" Skylar beat her palm in the air as she belted out the words. Teddy smiled and laughed as she continued the verse.

"Close my eyes, take a bite, grab a ride, laugh out loud-" Skyler gasped and pointed up into the air, looking off dramatically.

"There it is, up on the roof!" The girls clicked their tongues and shook their heads, holding still their bright eyes and shining eyes. "I've been there, I survived, so just take my advice…"

"Hang in there Baby, things are crazy, but I know your future's bright!"

"Hang in there Baby, there's no maybe, everything turns out all right!"

"Sure life is Up and down-" They pressed their backs together and slid down an inch, their eyes still glued lovingly on the camera.

"-But trust me, it comes back around." Then together, they sang the final line.

"You're gonna love who you turn out to be!"

They laughed together and gave each other a high five, both were very proud of the song. Teddy looked into Skyler's eyes for a minute, then hugged her. Skyler's eyes opened in surprise, then her arms lifted to hug her. "Skyler, I just really feel like one day you'll make a great mom to someone out there. I don't know why, I just feel like it…maybe it's with PJ, maybe some other guy, but I think you're a great person and anyone would be lucky to have you."

"Oh? Thank you."

Charlotte clicked off the video and took a deep breath, her eyes were misty and her heart was pounding, but it was a good feeling. She was proud and happy that Skyler and Teddy had been good friends. Their song reminded her of the many things she experienced growing up with PJ and Skyler. She definitely had those crazy days where PJ would be searching around for missing articles of clothing

"Skyler, have you seen my jacket!" PJ hollered as he thumbed through his closet. Six year old Charlotte stood in the doorway with a guilty look on her face. Skyler, who was at the dresser, moved over to Charlotte and lifted her up.

"I think I have an idea." PJ put his hands on his hip as Charlotte gazed at the bathroom across the hall.

"Uh oh." Her brother tilted his head and started walking out of the room.

"She says that a lot, doesn't she, Sky?" Suddenly his footsteps stopped and the tension in the air began to rise. The bathroom door slammed open and PJ let out a loud scream. "Skyler! She threw my work suit into the toilet!"

"Okay, we'll get you another suit. You go to your interview, Charlie and I will get your suit dry-cleaned. Is it salvageable?" PJ walked back out carrying a soaked, torn suit. Skyler winced and Charlotte giggled. "Yeah, it's going to need a miracle. It can be done." She walked over and exchanged Charlotte for the coat. PJ looked to his sister, who had an adorable guilty face.

"I sorry, PJ…" He smiled and breathed out.

"Ah Charlie, I can't stay mad at you."

Charlotte smiled at the memory and closed her eyes, it was one of the earliest memories that she could remember. It turned out that Skyler somehow managed to salvage the suit at the dry-cleaners. Moments like those were to die for, millions of spectacular memories and she never, ever wanted to lose those.

They were a witty bunch, sure they argued and there were times when they would do the stupidest of things. In the end of the day, they were a strong family unit, and nothing was more important than that. She'd have to try harder to focus on them now and not ignore them now that she had these videos.

As for the video she just watched, one thing seemed odd. Teddy acted a bit strange in the video with Skyler. Just as Gabe did in the one before. "Hey Mason?"

"What?"

"Do you think the subconscious can detect a tragedy or something? Maybe like a warning that we just ignore?" Mason rubbed his chin as Charlotte stared at the empty screen. "Like, what if the universe tries to warn us of something and being humans, we're just too stupid to realize it?"

"That's an interesting thought…everything all right?" She leaned forward and pulled back, closing her eyes and shaking her head. Her heart fluttered a bit in her chest and a chill ran down her spine. She really didn't want to think about her family suspecting such a nightmare, it made her wonder about what they might have been thinking when the crash happened.

"You know what? Never mind that thought. I'm fine." She looked up at his eyes and immediately tried to think of anything besides those videos. "If you won't tell Skyler about me telling you how she was an airhead when she was younger, and that I showed you any videos with her in it…I won't tell the jocks how I faster than you." He chuckled and closed his eyes, then lifted his index fingers up in protest.

"No, no, you're not faster and you did not win that race."

"Oh no? Would you like to watch that video again? I'm pretty sure I crossed the finish line." He laughed nervously and a playful smirk tugged at his lips. Charlotte almost swooned.

"That was a fluke. You started walking, and clearly I couldn't walk yet."

"Which is another thing I beat you at, but since I didn't hear you accept your part of the deal…" She slowly rose up and cupped her hands around her mouth. Mason's eyes widened and he unfolded his arms.

"Charlotte? Wh-what are you doing?"

"Hey Jocks!" He started to pale as his buddies looked over from the table. "Guess what! I have something to tell you about Mason!"

"N-No! Okay! Okay! it's a deal!" She smirked triumphantly and folded her arms over, she loved taking advantage of the male pride. First, though, we are having that rematch!" Charlotte laughed as Mason stood up and closed the laptop down for her. She stuffed the laptop into her backpack and folded her arms over, eyeing Mason with daring eyes.

"If you're up to it, let's race. Do you think you can beat me?"

"Please, I'm a running back, I know I can beat you."

In just ten minutes, the two were out in the back of the school, looking towards the building. Mason had his hands up, measuring the building. It was at very long. Charlotte moved over to the left corner and leaned against it. She watched Mason walk over to her and grinned as he began stretching. "No need to stretch, Mason. You know you're going to lose."

"Yeah. Right. Just remember I could live you up and toss you over the school's fence if I wanted to."

"Yes, but you wouldn't do that because you would have to deal with Nurse Duncan. Then, you'd have to deal with my brother."

"I think I could handle your family."

"Just try to remember, they are crazy too." Mason laughed and positioned himself in a running stance. Charlotte spread her legs and bent down, resting her hands neatly on her knees. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be." She moved her eyes over and caught him watching her. His head snapped forward. She felt a satisfaction coming over her and snapped her fingers for the race to begin.

"From here to the other side, the loser has to fulfill one wish for the winner."

"Really? That's it?"

"Yep."

"Works for me." She counted down and took off running, with Mason right behind her. He picked up his speed and her eyes grew large, they were now neck and neck. She cleared her throat and pressed forward, no way was she losing this rematch! "Hey Charlotte, I think you may have dropped something back there."

"Nice try."

"Fine." Mason smirked and sped up some more, pressing just a foot in front of her. She growled and the two of them ran past the destination and on down the field, completely oblivious to the fact that the race was now over.

Sweat ran down her body as she focused on Mason, now in front of her. It didn't bother her, to be honest, but it did mean she'd be taking a vigorous shower when she got home. When they finally reached the fence at the other side of the yard, she was breathing heavily and glaring at Mason, who was reveling in his triumph. "You got lucky. There had to be a fluke somewhere."

"Oh there was." He shrugged his arms forward and his football jersey shook in the wind. Charlotte's eyes narrowed as his lips curled into a smirk. She did not like losing. "That was, you waited too long for a rematch and my football prowess was too much for you to handle." She groaned in frustration and leaned back against the grey fence. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was right, all that practice had to have made him a faster runner. "No miraculous cheating for you that time, huh?"

"Whatever. What do you want?"

"Well…" He turned to her and smiled at her. The silence was making her nervous, as well as was the fact that he was looking into her eyes. "I did have something I wanted to ask you."

"Okay?"

"Okay. So…I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but, would you like to go on a date with me?" She froze and her jaw fell. This was the best thing that could have happened today, Mason actually asked her out! His eyes betrayed his nervousness, though. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Her cheeks burned and her heart practically leapt from her chest. What should she say? She knew PJ would be protective about it, so it was probably better to talk to Skyler about it first, so Skyler could convince PJ to let her go on a date. This relationship they had going on worked out so well. Either way, that was the tricky part.

What an entrance by Mason, and a great discussion to make Charlotte feel better. Lovely rematch of the famed race, but Mason wins this time, hah.