Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 27 (Family Reunion Begins)

Upon arrival to the park, the family was among the last ones to arrive. The booths were set up, relatives were chatting amongst themselves, and of course, Charlotte did see Henry and Tyler walking around in the park. Near the two, sitting on a park bench, was a woman with a long brown ponytail and a pink stroller with a three-year old child inside. Beside the stroller was a young, five-year old girl with short Bobbie hairstyle. She had a pink daisy clip in the top left side of her hair. Maybe that was Regina's Aunt Jenny and Cousins Candice and Quinn!

She looked over to PJ in the driver's seat, he looked extremely nervous. Skyler was in the front passenger seat, eyeing the relatives with growing anticipation. Teddy's car seat was next to Charlotte, and Petunia was next to her. The grandmother wasn't looking towards the family, she was looking out her side window at the two elderly people walking towards the car. "Hey, who are they?" Charlotte looked over and immediately recognized her grandparents.

"Grandma and Grandpa Bosca!" She didn't even wait for them to get to the car or PJ to give the okay to exit the vehicle, she just jumped out and ran over to her grandparents, hugging them both. David and Amber hugged them and grinned as the rest of the family started to step out of the door. PJ didn't look too happy that he had to exit when he wasn't ready, but it was either leave now or stay sitting in the car for the rest of the day. "I'm so happy you made it!"

"We wouldn't miss this reunion for the world, dear," Amanda said while giving Charlotte an extra squeeze. Petunia walked up to them while PJ and Skyler pulled the baby stroller from the back of the car. The old woman crossed her arms and gave them a pleasant smile.

"So you're Amanda and David? You two seem pretty young to be Charlotte's grandparents." Amanda chuckled and David decided to explain. Charlotte exhaled and stepped to the side, it truly was complex.

"Well you see, at the time of the accident, PJ was having a little trouble with finances and everything. Skyler was still with us, and we had a good amount of money, so per his suggestion, Skyler was granted adoptive custody of Charlotte. That does make Skyler her adoptive mother and us her adoptive grandparents." He chuckled and started to rub his chin. "It's amusing because she is also Charlotte's sister-in-law. You must be Petunia, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same, and yes, that is just a tad confusing…" The courts didn't think PJ had the money to take care of her, it was a shame at the time. Fortunately, Skyler and her family did. "It's good that she has had a set of grandparents to grow up with.

"Well Bob's father was still alive for some time," Amanda stated while tapping her cheek. George Duncan lived up until 2017, so Charlotte had known at least one other grandparent. Unfortunately Clarissa, his wife, passed away in 2004. Even Uncle Mel had lived until 2019. Petunia's eyes drifted towards the ground and Amanda gazed at her with a certain sadness in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it just…seems like we're all dropping like flies…" Charlotte felt a pang in her chest and closed her eyes. It was sad, that of the grandparents she and PJ had left, not counting the Bosca's, Petunia truly was the last one left. Even her brothers and sisters had passed away. Maybe, there was good reason for the elderly to be depressed. Petunia cleared her throat and smiled as Amanda pat her on the arm. "Right, no reason to be feeling down today, let's have fun. Right?"

"Exactly, all the relatives are getting back together, I'd say this is a good day. Keep in mind, you're not alone. All right?" Petunia nodded her head and looked over as PJ and Skyler walked up, pushing Teddy in her baby stroller.

"Mom, Dad, glad you could show up." Amanda and David hugged Skyler and started baby talking to Teddy. Petunia watched them with a tear in her eye. Charlotte furrowed her brow and crossed her arms, trying to think of what her Nana was thinking. Then again, it didn't seem hard to imagine what was on her mind. Amy. Hank. Maybe there was a day when she would have been in Amanda's spot with Hank next to her and Amy greeting them so joyously. "Would you mind convincing my husband to stop being afraid and go say hi to his relatives?" The elders laughed and PJ bowed his head.

"I'll do it!" Charlotte exclaimed while grabbing her brother's wrist. He let out a quick exclamation as she started running, dragging him behind her. She could let her grandparents talk amongst themselves. To her right, she saw Aunt Diane and Uncle William making their way towards the elders, no reason to stop now. The two smirked teasingly at PJ, who apparently couldn't break free from her grasp. He looked at them, panic on his face.

"Help!"

William put his hands to his mouth and shouted out. "Charlotte, everyone's over at the BBQ stand near the canopy!" PJ glared at his uncle while Charlotte merely laughed, he didn't want to, but he was going to have to answer to his relatives. She passed Henry and Tyler, who merely stared at the two with bemused expressions. Next, she passed Regina's aunt. She waved her hand at them and motioned.

"Come on! The relatives are at the canopy area!" She neared the canopy, grinning at the relatives all mixed under the large green roof and blue metal tables. Some members of the family were drinking, others were chatting, and some were down by the lake off to the right. On the left side of the area were three stands, the BBQ stand, St. Paul Medical Center's stand, and the beer stand, with soda for the kids. Past the canopy a bit was a bounce house for the kids, along with a face painting stand where Grace was already sitting at.

Uncle Randy and Aunt Juliet were talking with their son, Chuck. His wife, Tina, and sister, Ginger, were down at the lake with Jennifer, who had a toy boat sailing in the water. Diane's daughter, Taylor, was discussing something with Dr. Reed, while her husband Quincy was sipping on a small glass of Miller. PJ once more tried to pull away, but the momentum was too much. Just as Charlotte stepped onto the concrete ground, she let out a shout that caught everyone's attention.

"We're here!" The relatives started making their way over, all smiling at her. Quincy walked over to his cousin-in-law and pat PJ's shoulder.

"It's good to see you man…" Charlotte released him and smirked triumphantly as their cousin, Taylor, practically tackled PJ with a hug. Their greeting would probably be the least awkward, but that was expected, since Taylor had been PJ's closest cousin. He slowly started to smile and pat her back.

"Hey Taylor, it's been a while."

"Too long, I think." She crossed her arms and shook her head. "Not fair that Mom got to be the first one to see you again. I had to take care of Jennifer though. Speaking of which, where's my daughter at, you need to meet her." She looked over to the side as their cousin Ginger and cousin-in-law Tina started making their way up to her. Jennifer started running towards Taylor, and then latching onto her leg.

"Mommy! Is this Cousin PJ?" Taylor gave a nod of approval. Charlotte looked to her older brother and saw him trying to get over what looked like an awkward moment at the realization that hey, life continued on.

"This is your daughter? You should see my daughter." PJ looked behind him just as Skyler and the elders came walking up with Aunt Diane and Uncle William. It was funny, Uncle Randy looked like Santa Claus with a grey beard, but Uncle William looked like George Clooney with a grey goatee. Or well, George Clooney back in 2011. The rest of the family flocked over to meet them as PJ introduced his immediate family. "This is my beautiful wife, Skyler…" He stepped behind her and put his hands to her shoulder, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. He motioned his hand towards the baby in the stroller. "This is our daughter, Teddy. Named after my little sister…"

"Oh she's adorable!" Taylor knelt down and smiled at Teddy, who stared at her with extreme curiosity. Babies had a knack for recognition, everything was about remembering faces and surroundings. Teddy laughed happily and reached up, grabbing Taylor's finger. Charlotte watched Jennifer move over and put her fingers on the edge of the stroller, peering in at the baby with a wide grin.

"Another cousin, Mommy?" Charlotte felt someone tap her shoulder and quickly turned around, meeting Grace's eyes. Grace extended her arms and cheered her name. The two girls shared an instant hug.

"Finally we get to see each other in person!" PJ glanced over at the two and smiled, fully surprised to see his other cousin's daughter all grown up. He started scanning the area and turned to Chuck and Ginger.

"Hey, where's Mitch?" Mitch was their youngest sibling, he'd passed away a year ago. Charlotte discovered this on Facebook when she was talking with Ginger. The two cousins bowed their heads.

"He was in a car accident last year," Ginger replied. PJ gasped and became very still. The air grew silent and chill, as everyone started to think about all the deaths in the family. "We've been apart too long PJ, it was a blow…I think someone tried to contact you when it happened…Tina, I think." Tina nodded and PJ slowly bowed his head. Charlotte remembered that phone call, vaguely enough, but she remembered it. PJ didn't even wait to hear about his cousin's accident, the minute she told him he was Chuck's wife, he hung up, saying he wanted nothing to do with the family.

"My god...I'm so sorry. It's no excuse, but, after all the years of no contact…"

"Things got busy and hard for everyone," Chuck remarked. "After that plane crash, no one knew what to say and kept putting off calling you, then life just got in the way and people just…I don't know…Tina made that phone call and then we figured maybe you thought we were intentionally avoiding you all these years and so you wanted nothing to do with us because of that…we were going to give up until your wife and sister decided we should have a reunion." The next to speak was Randy, in an attempt to clear the somber tone in the air, as this was hardly the time for it.

"We need to move past the plane accident, we need to move past Mitch's car accident, and we need to be a family again. No more avoiding, no more acting like the other doesn't exist, we're a family, and it's best that we start acting that way!" Charlotte smiled at him, he'd definitely won some brownie points just then. "We may have lost Mitch, Bob, Amy, Rebecca-" Teddy's real name. "-and Gabe, but we didn't lose PJ and Charlotte…and there's a new birth in the family, PJ's, so I hardly think we should be separate any longer."

As all the members started making their approvals, Charlotte felt a tear coming to her eye. She let it fall and her heart started to swell. She'd never been so proud of her family, both immediate and extended.

It wasn't long before the family started to have some fun, though there was a bit of reconciling and the people did actually talk about the plane accident. There were tears shed, hugs, and Charlotte was even requested to get her sister's laptop from the car. She had brought it with her for the very purpose of home movie effects. It really did bring them all together again, even gave her some ideas in regards to certain ex friends.

So family reunion's finally underway and people are reconnecting. That's the important thing.