Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 28 (Bonding Families)

After everything was said and done, she and Grace were stationed at the face-painting booth, laughing at stories of their friends and their family. Grace pointed her arm out past her. "Look at our little cousin!"

"What?" She followed the gaze and quickly moved her hands to her mouth, covering up a large smile. Jennifer and Tyler were walking hand and hand across the park! It was so adorable, they looked like a miniature couple. Behind them trailed Candice, one year younger than Jennifer, and a good way to remember their years was Tyler was born in 2016, Jennifer in 2017, and finally Candice in 2018. Candice was swinging a stick in the air while Tyler and Jennifer laughed. "They're so cute!"

"I know! Maybe in ten years or so they'll turn out to be like you and Mason, huh?" Grace nudged her playfully. She blushed deeply and closed her eyes.

"I wish you could meet him, he's the best! We haven't really become 'official' boyfriend and girlfriend, but maybe one day." Yeah, right, whenever PJ and Emmett made up and actually allowed them to date. She leaned forward and sighed, narrowing her eyes. "It's annoying, we have to date secretly because my brother and his uncle are too proud to reconcile. And look here!" She gestured her hand towards the family and growled. "Everyone here reconciled! I get that we're all family, so it makes sense, but…I don't know." Grace started to rub her back and gazed up at the clouds.

"You never know, maybe there's something that could bring them back together. You said Emmett's all sore because of his parents, right?"

"Yeah. Family screwed him over big time."

"Well…look at our family, we're back as one united family and not separated. Family will always be family…no matter how long it is, family will always come back around at some point of time." She agreed with this, family did seem to stay close, even when there was quite a bit of time apart. She had a thought that maybe, just maybe, she could talk to his parents. If they wouldn't listen to him, then who knows if they'd really listen to her. It was worth a shot at least, wasn't it?

"I bet I could find them and talk to them." Grace raised an eyebrow and she quickly grinned. "What if I could convince them to actually give him some sort of chance, or at least time of day? It might not be my place to or anything, but no one else is doing anything." So maybe it sounded like meddling, but she didn't think so. There were a lot of things she could do, many things she was thinking of doing, such as finding Coach Walsh and informing him, in a very polite manner, to not hurt Regina in any way. Who was to say she couldn't do that?

"I guess that's up to you, just be careful." She nodded and propped her elbows onto the booth. Her eyes drifted to the lake shore where PJ was actually fishing with Chuck, Quincy, William, and Randy. Tina, Ginger, and Juliet were chatting with Regina's aunt. Henry was hanging out with Amanda, David, and Petunia, all playing cards at a park table. Diane and Taylor were at the BBQ stand, having some barbeque pork and beans.

Skyler walked up to them from their right, pushing Teddy in her stroller. She said hello, but it was so sudden that both of the girls practically fell out of their seats. She chuckled and started grooming the small bit of Teddy's hair. "I've been walking the baby around the park, how are you two holding up?"

"Nothing much is happening, so we're enjoying conversation. You and Teddy want your faces painted? We'll do it!" Skyler laughed and looked down at her daughter, as though considering it. "I bet we can paint a bear cub for Teddy." Charlotte grinned as Teddy made a babbling noise. She really wanted to paint the baby's face, though it was possible that it wouldn't be such a good idea. "You never know, it might not be the best thing."

"Yeah, I'm not too sure I want to put anything on Teddy's face. I don't want to run the risk that she might have a reaction to it." She nodded and gazed down at Teddy, it made sense that Skyler wouldn't want to risk any kind of reaction to the face paint. A lot of people didn't care to put face paint on their children. "I've been doing some thinking Charlotte, what do you think about me taking Dr. Reed's job offer? After Teddy was sick with the cold and now Nana living with us, I just feel like someone ought to at least be home more often…"

"That's a great idea!" She was thrilled to hear Skyler finally considering the job offer more. Skyler smiled slightly and turned her eyes to the hospital's booth. The doctor and two nurses standing there were chatting with the people at the two neighboring booths. Charlotte moved from her booth and stepped behind Skyler, giving her a light push. "Go and talk to Dr. Reed, take the job!" Skyler laughed and started moving, which pleased the girl greatly.

"Okay, okay, don't be so pushy dear. I'll take the job." After she walked off, Charlotte let out a loud cheer. Grace watched with amusement. Charlotte rushed to her cousin and grinned from ear to ear.

"That hospital is where mom worked at and they've been close friends of ours for years. They've been dying to get Skyler to work there. If she takes the job, it's better hours, less days, more pay."

"Yeah that does sound like a better deal than a school nurse."

"Yep." She just wasn't sure how well she'd get used to it. Skyler had pretty much been her school nurse every year of her life, transferring from elementary to junior high maybe one or two years before she actually went to junior high. Now she'd be going into the tenth grade next fall, and Skyler wouldn't be there. "No cutting classes just to visit the school nurse's office anymore." She laughed and Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Did she actually let you do that?" Her shoulders slumped and her head quickly bowed at her cousin's question.

"No. She'd send me right back to class." In recent years she actually personally walked her back to class since Charlotte would sometimes leave and not go back to class. Grace laughed and rubbed her shoulder. Tyler, Jennifer, and Candice came running up to the booth, practically jumping out of nowhere and scaring the two girls.

"Hi!" Jennifer said with a jovial tone. "We want to have our faces paint." Grace turned her head to the children and grinned.

"Goody, we have customers." She sat down and opened the book of face paints. "What would you like?" The children quickly began going through the face paints, though they looked like they'd already had something in mind. Charlotte couldn't help but wonder what Mason and Emmett would say about Tyler having his face painted. Hell, did PJ even know Tyler was here? Did he care? He hadn't said anything in the entire time of being here, so a probably not.

"I want the kitty cat!" Jennifer bounced happily and glanced over at Tyler. "What do you want, Ty?" Tyler tapped his chin and pointed to a puppy face paint.

"I want the puppy. Puppies and Kittens go together, so I want the puppy." Charlotte put her hand over her chest and awed at the two, who only gazed back with confused stares. Grace laughed and looked over Candice. Candice grinned back at her and pointed to an image on a different page.

"Stars, I want the stars."

"Okay. Charlotte, what order should we do this in?" Only two of them, so one of the three kids would have to wait to get theirs done. Candice raised her hand and walked over to a park bench just next to the booth.

"I don't mind waiting."

"Are you sure?" Charlotte asked her. Candice quickly nodded her head and gazed up at the clouds in the sky. She started kicking her feet in the air and watching the clouds slowly move across the sea of blue. Charlotte nodded and gestured towards Tyler. "I got Tyler. Grace, you good with doing a kitten?"

"I got it." The two kids grinned and hurried over to them. They dipped their sponges in the paint and began the somewhat slow process of painting. It wasn't necessarily slow, as it was a careful process. They wanted to make sure they didn't mess up, so they couldn't rush through it. The kids stood still, gazing into the eyes of the painter before them.

"Tyler, again I'm going to ask, you're sure your dad won't mind you having your face painted?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay." She chuckled and continued on. She wondered how he felt, not knowing his other grandparents. She knew it was at least hard, it troubled her that she never was close to Nana before now, and now she was almost ninety and might not live for a very long time. The last grandparent of her biological parents. Her heart sank in her chest, but she ignored the rush of sadness trying to rise up. "So Tyler, do you think your grandfather would know where your other grandparents are?"

"They're somewhere in this city, but I don't know where. I don't think Grandpa would know, he isn't related to them is he?"

"No, no he's your mom's father. Your dad's parents, though…I wonder about them. Have you ever met them?"

"No…" She paused for a second, watching the hurt flash through Tyler's eyes. It was heartbreaking, no one deserved to never be able to even meet their grandparents. Were they really that ignorant? Though, knowing Emmet's tendency to avoid the people that hurt him or brush him off, could he have been the one to not introduce them to Tyler? No, he didn't seem like that much of a prick, he at least cared about his own family. It was possible they didn't want anything to do with him and brushed him off whenever he tried to contact him about important parts of his life, such as marriage or even having a child. She cleared her throat and continued to pat the paint onto his cheek.

"You'll see them one day I bet. They're family, and someone told me that family will always come back around to each other, no matter what." Grace looked over with a subtle smile. Tyler flashed a toothy grin and scratched his hair.

"You mean like a magnet? We just learned about magnets in school."

"Yes, exactly like that." She put her hand beneath his chin and turned his head gently to the side as she dabbed along his jaw-line. "Did your dad ever make recording contracts with anyone famous?" She knew he had, but she didn't know which ones. He made record deals with quite a few people, celebrities and non-celebrities. He did own E.H. Kings Record Company, and that company has put out several contracts.

"Daddy signed a deal with Sylvester Champ." The name registered in her head, it was familiar. In fact, she was sure she owned at least one CD of the man. He was a famous rock star that rose just a few years back. "I think daddy also signed a deal with a country singer a long time ago, Tex Bowers."

"What?" Her jaw fell and her hand recoiled from Tyler's face. Grace looked over with eyebrows high up. Tex Bowers was currently America's greatest country music superstar. When he entered into the music industry, he would have had to be one of Emmett's firsts, since he entered into the music industry at least nine years ago. "H-How could he sign a contract with him? That was at least nine or ten years ago."

"I think he was the first person. Daddy started in college really. When he tells the story, he says Tex came in a few weeks after he started his business up and said he was looking for some newer companies that probably hadn't gone 'sour' with experience or something…either way, Dad signed a contract with him and he went on from there."

Amazing. For Emmett to have signed someone who had made such a name for themselves in recent years. Didn't Mason say at some point of time that his grandparents actually liked country music? She could just be thinking that, but either way, she'd just been given an idea. Tex Bowers, singer of The Heartbreaker Chronicles, and so much more.

"Are we almost done?" Tyler asked while pointing to his face. Charlotte slowly smiled at him and studied, the puppy face had truly been complete. She nodded and he quickly bounced over to the bench. "Okay Candice, your turn next!"

"Yay!" Candice cheered. She jumped from the bench and made her way to Charlotte. Charlotte smiled at her and exchanged brushes.

"You want pink stars?"

"Pink, blue, red, and orange."

"Okay." When she was done, she would be sure that Candice was made beautiful by the stars. "Any other requests?" The young girl thought for a second and quickly nodded.

"Yes please, can you make them on a purple background? Like a starry sky? I love the stars at night!" Ah, a fellow future daydreamer perhaps. She smiled from ear to ear and quickly nodded, she could definitely put the stars on a purple sky.

"Of course." She dipped her sponge in the paint and began the process, focusing completely on the task at hand. This really was turning into a great reunion.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!