Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 8 (Thankful to be Alive)

Thanksgiving dinner was ready and Skyler had finished serving the plates. PJ was at the head of the table with Skyler on his right and Charlotte on the left. Sitting next to Skyler were David and Amanda. On Charlotte's side, next to her, was the high chair for Teddy. At the opposite end of the oval table, straight across from PJ, was Emmett. Tyler was sitting on Emmett's left, Ivy was to his right. Next to Ivy was Henry, and then Mason, who wasn't too keen on sitting next to the baby that would likely fling food on him. Charlotte actually teased him due to the fact that there was a baby in between them.

There was a lot of talking going on, much reminiscing, but PJ and Emmett had not said anything in particular to each other. If they spoke, it was to anyone else at the table, which created a very awkward atmosphere that nobody wanted to try and cut through. Charlotte didn't feel so bad about it as she did earlier, her grandparents really were lightening the mood with jokes and stories. Of course it had slowly become quieter, nobody could really think of anything to say. She'd been texting Dee and Regina to see how their thanksgiving was going, both were doing all right.

Regina and her mother were not like the vast majority of her family. Her family were consistent of the lower middle class, struggling to earn a penny. Most of them smoked, most had chronic coughing fits, and COPD was prevalent. Her mother, after meeting the Duncan family, attacked her asthma head on so she could avoid being like her family, and that drive was what made her successful and strong, therefore Regina was a lot like her mother. At the same time, Regina was still susceptible to being swayed into following Charlotte or Dee. Her thanksgiving was spent with an inhaler constantly at her side due to her grandparent's smoke filled house. Alice didn't want to spend thanksgiving there, but they were easily persuaded, always a constant problem for them..

Dee's family, most snooty and rich, were always talking about how successful they were. Dee found it insanely boring, but she played nice and didn't whine about escaping, even though her recent text was begging Charlotte to run out to the movies with her. Her parents constantly boasted their own worth and did both boasting Dee, while also inquiring why she wasn't more successful. With her family, it was always constant competition, trying to figure out who was richer than who, and Dee hated it. Yet, being like the older sister of the group, she had to keep her head held high.

Now Charlotte was just waiting to see what would happen with her family. So far, no one had blown up, no one got into a fight, and everyone was complementing PJ on a well cooked turkey. However, she had a feeling that she was going to wish she'd spent her thanksgiving at either Dee's or Regina's. She stabbed her turkey with her fork and glanced up at Skyler. Skyler smiled and turned her eyes to Mason.

"So Mason, where would you take Charlotte on your date?" She leaned forward and the others looked over curiously. Charlotte blushed and Mason started fidgeting. It was clear that he'd not planned it that far yet. Skyler raised an eyebrow and Charlotte laughed. "Just try to remember, please, on your first date. If you're planning a picnic, don't drive fast on an extremely curvy road." He paused and PJ coughed a bit on his water. "Oh yes PJ, I remember that. First date jitters are always the worst."

"Yeah, picnics are out," Mason muttered under his breath. Charlotte brought her food to her mouth and rolled the meat around with her tongue, chewing it slowly so as not to laugh. "I was thinking more like-"

"No fast food restaurants either," Ivy chided. Mason winced and Charlotte's eyebrows rose. A few years ago, Mason asked one girl out and he took her to Burger King, of all places! Needless to say, there was no second date. "Those never end well." He looked over to Charlotte and she simply looked to her food, a light smirk was beginning to form at her lips. She was embarrassed for him, but she did find this whole thing amusing at best. He took a deep breath and forked his green beans.

"Do we have to have this discussion now? I don't see how beneficial it is." He brought his food to his mouth and chewed roughly. Charlotte lifted her eyes skyward and smiled. Teddy laughed and smacked the chair, causing a speck of baby food to land on Mason's shirt. "Ah great…she's already flinging her food." He took his napkin and wiped off the food, chuckling softly to himself. "I was thinking maybe a nice dinner at a steakhouse or something. I don't know anyone that would turn down a nice juicy sirloin." Her eyes flicked over to Mason and her lips curled upwards, he knew what she liked! He must have asked Dee and Regina, because she didn't actually make a habit of admitting just how much she enjoyed steak. It was a surprise that it didn't fatten her up entirely. Although, she did have a slight gut from all the food. Hopefully martial arts classes could clear that up. "Also this steakhouse near the highway, Romano's Steaks, has the best peach pie." Immediately her mind drifted to the delicious, warm pie with a dollop of whipped cream.

"You've been talking to the girls, haven't you?" She asked. Her belly rumbled as she recalled her favorite steakhouse. Romano's was indeed the best, not entirely cheap, but cheap enough that she could go once or twice a month if she wanted to. It was her favorite place to eat, their peach pie was also her favorite dessert on the menu. She had a tendency to be a sloppy eater when it came to that pie, so if he took her there, she'd have to be careful not to become too far engrossed in the meal. "Did Dee and Regina tell you about Romano's?" Mason flashed a toothy grin and leaned back in his chair.

"A magician never reveals his tricks."

"Yeah you talked to them." She smirked back and turned her attention to PJ. "PJ, can you believe he would want to take me to Romano's? How great is that?" PJ smiled and spooned his potatoes.

"It's impressive. Just be careful, Mason. Charlotte's grandpa might find someone to follow you around." David laughed and Mason paled at the thought once more. Charlotte playfully smacked PJ's arm. "Then again, I might be more inclined to do that."

"PJ, you're going to scare him." PJ grinned innocently while Charlotte looked over to Mason, who was now eating his food with the most nonchalant expression he could muster. She thought it was amusing and cute. "So anyway, I was thinking of taking some martial arts classes, what do you think?" She'd already mentioned it to Skyler, but not PJ. PJ smiled back at her and nodded his approval.

"Skyler and I already talked about it, we found a great place for you to take your classes at." She gasped and grinned happily. PJ wiped his mouth with his napkin and cleared his throat. "It's that tae kwon do studio behind the supermarket, I think your instructor is Miss Kerner."

"Really? Thanks!"

"You know you'll be expected to attend the classes, right? No slacking off." She chuckled nervously and nodded her head. There were those times when she'd cut class, but she was almost always caught. Usually the teacher would go see Skyler, then Skyler would have to call her and ask why she wasn't in class. Again, having your motherly figure as the school nurse, did have its downsides.

"I understand."

"Okay, good."

The family talked for a bit longer, random words and statements thrown about, but just as she was about to relax, it was Tyler who set off the fuse. "Dad, why are you and PJ not talking to each other? Why are you two mad at each other, you used to be best friends, right? Best friends aren't supposed to fight." Charlotte's eyes widened as Emmett carefully set his fork down. Ivy gave him a warning glare, but he brushed it off.

"Best friends also comfort each other in times of tragedy, they don't just vanish without a single word." PJ rolled his eyes and flicked his eyes up to Emmett.

"I was going through a lot at the time Emmett, I didn't want to worry about you mourning over a lost love. You were always obsessed with my sister, it wasn't natural back then." Skyler and Ivy exchanged helpless gazes and Charlotte smacked her forehead, there was no going back from this now. The elders shifted uncomfortably in their seats and Tyler bowed his head, he had a feeling he'd just messed up. "I'm sorry I didn't comfort you, but I couldn't take it. The first time I saw you after the crash, you were going on and on with people about how life would never be the same for you because Teddy was gone."

"I wasn't in the right frame of mind then either, I knew it wasn't like that for me, but I also knew you were going through hell. Why didn't you at least come talk to me? Why did you shut me out? Why did you shut Ivy out!"

"I couldn't deal with it back then, get over it Emmett."

"I will not." Emmett slowly stood from his chair and stared at PJ, ignoring Ivy's ordering for him to sit down. "We were your best friends and you tossed us aside like yesterday's trash! All our relatives started dying off during the years in between, so we definitely saw a lot of death with minimal comfort. Even Ivy's mother passed with heart failure just a year after the crash!" Ivy muttered a curse and Skyler shot an apologetic look towards her. Charlotte moaned and looked helplessly at Mason. He appeared at a loss for words. Things were already beginning to spiral out of control.

"It isn't my fault, Emmett. I'm sorry, I would have been there if I knew about Ivy's mom."

"Oh. Like you were there for her when her best friend died? Or when my brother died? You know my parents have pretty much disowned us? Only because I'm in the music career, not a doctor or lawyer like they wanted me to be. How do you think that made me feel, PJ? You wouldn't know, because you were not there!"

"Emmett! Sit down!" Ivy shouted. She rose up and snapped her fingers beside his face, trying to snap him out of his tirade. Emmett's chest heaved and his eyes narrowed upon PJ. Charlotte's heart was racing once again, she was afraid this was going to come to blows. The tension in the air was even thicker than it was minutes ago. Ivy had tears in her eyes and was growling at her husband, glaring with disappointment. "We didn't come here to fight, Emmett. We came here to talk and have a nice, peaceful dinner. You think I'm happy thinking about everything that happened? No! No one is! This isn't the time to argue. Maybe if you weren't so stubborn, we could start fresh with them-"

"Start fresh? Ivy, are you insane?" He turned to her and scoffed. "PJ made it clear twelve years ago that he wanted nothing more to do with us. You and Skyler have to run around behind our backs, knowing full well that Mason was asking out Charlie, but you couldn't come to us?"

"Because I knew if I did, this was exactly what would happen!"

"Oh you did?"

"Yes! You're so full of yourself, it's aggravating! You can't just push your anger to the side for one damn day and try to make peace with the situation?"

"You know what it was like." He turned back to PJ and pointed a finger at him. "We were like brothers, not only did you abandon me in my time of need, you didn't even let me comfort you in your time of need. I recognized your entire family just died! I would have tried to comfort you at least! You were so afraid I'd be too upset over your sister's loss to actually get past that? Is that all you thought of me back then?" PJ sighed heavily and shook his head.

"No Emmett…I was just concerned that it wouldn't help to talk to anyone at the time."

"You never even gave me a chance. How could you not give your best friend a single chance?" PJ slowly stood up from the table. Charlotte watched on with desperation in her chest and her throat clenching up tight. She could barely speak, much less breathe. "Would you tell me why it takes my nephew asking out your little sister that you would even invite us over here?"

"Truth be told, I didn't even know it was you." PJ sneered on his words and Emmett scoffed. Charlotte winced and smacked her forehead. Emmett crossed his arms and glared into PJ's eyes. "I was hoping to avoid confrontation here, but seeing as how that's not happening, please leave my house."

"Fine! Mason, come on." Mason lifted his gaze up and Charlotte quickly grabbed his arm. She was at panic stage. Even her grandparents looked baffled, unable to think of anything to diffuse this. Ivy looked over and whined once as Tyler jumped up from his chair.

"I'm sorry about this, the food was great. Forgive my husband for his attitude." PJ smiled vaguely and Skyler slowly nodded her head. Henry slowly rolled his eyes and took another bite of the turkey before standing from his seat.

"For the record, I don't see how anyone could have been in the right mind twelve years ago. That was then, and a lot of time has gone by." Henry looked to Emmett and pointed his finger at him. "However it is your clinging to this old pain that doesn't allow for any growth. Both you and PJ, still holding on to the family, forgetting the most important thing of all, we're all still alive. They're not…" PJ bowed his head and Emmett quickly turned away. "They're not coming back."

"I understand that. Mason, let's get moving. I don't want you dating anyone from the Duncan family, either." Charlotte's blood ran cold and Mason quickly snapped his gaze to his Uncle. Her heart tore in her chest and everything silenced. Ivy and Skyler frowned at each other and waited as Mason slowly rose. Mason looked at Charlotte and closed his hands, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"We'll think of something. Dinner was great, don't worry about today, Uncle Emmett's just in one of his moods."

"Mason!" He sighed and slowly stood up.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." After a few minutes, the Heglin's were gone, and nobody was feeling too up for eating any more food. All Charlotte wanted to do now was call up Dee and Regina. It was taking everything she had in her not to break down and cry. As everyone started clearing the table, she pulled her phone out and sent a text to her friends. "Thanksgiving bombed, PJ and Emmett ended up fighting, now no one wants to do anything…"

Within minutes, her friends were responding. Regina replied that everything tasted like cigarette smoke and she was in the middle of trying not to have an asthma attack. Dee replied that her family had begun trying to debate who has the prettiest jewelry, she was currently holding herself up in the bedroom, trying to avoid her haughty relatives. Both of her friends seemed to state that family would be family for thanksgiving, but at least they all had a family. Her friends replies put a smile on her face, maybe things would work out one day. She had to admit, Emmett did have a point, in a tragedy like that, it was hard to accept when your best friend shut you out, but by that same respect, it was difficult to keep holding on to that very same pain for so long without it destroying oneself.

When it all came down to it, the message of Thanksgiving was clear to her and to her friends, and perhaps Henry said it the best. They were at least thankful to be alive. Truly, that much was a blessing. She stood from the table and turned her gaze to Teddy. "Well. This is going to make an interesting video diary, to say the least…"

Well that thanksgiving went bad real quick, but at least there is that reminder that while family can be crazy, at least the true thing to be thankful for was that family is there. Charlie, Regina, Dee, they have family to spend the holidays with, some people have none. Let's see what happens next, perhaps Mason has something up his sleeve. Maybe Charlie will come up with something, who knows. Stick around.