Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 35 (Family Discussion)

Charlotte burst into her home in a mad rage, Emmett had stopped them on the way home and forbade them to date, just like she thought he would. He grounded Mason, yelled for a minute about random nonsensical things while she sat there fuming over Brittany. She managed to text Brittany, cussing her out, to which Brittany responded about it being for her own good. She was honestly tired of the bullshit that the girl put her through.

In the house, PJ was holding Teddy in his arms, Petunia was sitting in her recliner, knitting, and Skyler was in the kitchen. Skyler stepped out of the kitchen and met her eyes, frowning. As much as she tried to hold in the anger, she just couldn't get it past her own family to know something was wrong. It was crazy how well they knew her. When they all looked at her, every one of them could tell something was wrong. She didn't want to tell PJ about her dating Mason, but in this moment, she honestly couldn't care. He probably wouldn't be as enflamed as Emmett.

"Can someone tell me why Mr. Heglin has his head stuffed up his rear?" She asked in a calm, yet calculating voice. PJ's eyebrows rose and Skyler's face scrunched. She felt a pang of guilt and slowly exhaled, knowing her family wasn't too fond of disrespect, and she did just disrespect Emmett in that moment. "Sorry, I'm just really irritated…" Skyler walked over to her and put an arm around her shoulder, then guided her over to the couch. It was really late in the day now, she'd spent several hours just walking around the town, trying in vain to calm down.

"We can tell. Talk to us…we're starting a usual thing here…" She raised an eyebrow and sat on the couch, staring carefully at Skyler. "Every Saturday we're going to come together as a family and discuss how our week went. All the good things and bad things…what do you think?" It sounded like a good idea to her, to be able to just remove the load of crap at the end of the week and start fresh on Sundays, which were pretty much the start of the week.

"Sounds like a good tradition to start. Did I miss anything?"

"No, we were waiting on you," Petunia replied. "I came up with the idea." The elder grinned, her eyes lighting up with pride. "We used to do this whenever your Mother was a child." Charlotte nodded her head and glanced over as Skyler sat next to her. Amato walked over and curled up at her feet. She smiled at the sight and slowly relaxed her body.

"Sounds great, who starts?"

"Well first, we need something…" Petunia looked around the room and pointed to PJ's detective badge on his lap. He'd gotten off work recently and was still dressed in his usual sport jacket and slacks. His badge was usually in the inside pocket, concealed in a flap that looked like a wallet. He must have taken it out at some point of time. "Maybe we can use your badge, PJ. The holder of that badge gets to talk about their week, and then they must pass it to their right." Charlotte lifted her eyebrows and chuckled. It gave her plenty of time to cool off, considering Petunia was to PJ's right, then Skyler would talk next, and then she'd talk. PJ lifted up his badge and shrugged.

"That works. Anyone else want to go first?"

"You go ahead," Charlotte replied. Skyler and Petunia nodded at him and Teddy reached up for the badge. She took it and brought the top of it to her mouth, giggling as her drool ran down the front. PJ smiled and shook his head.

"Well. This week's been pretty hectic at work. I've been working on this one case that is extremely difficult to crack, we can't even find a suspect right now. I can't help but feel that I'm missing something." He ran his hand along the crease in his forehead and glanced over at Skyler and Charlotte. "It's been a stressful week." Skyler reached over and pat his arm, giving him a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure you'll get a break in the case soon, you have a great homicide team working with you." Charlotte agreed to that, she'd always been sure PJ got the culprit. No matter what, he would always find the villain, and that's what always made her feel comfortable and safe, knowing that her brother would never let a bad guy get away.

"You're a great brother, great dad, and a great cop. You can't always figure it out right away, but you will. Is there anything else stressing you out?" She didn't know why, but she was almost certain she he had something else on his mind. He didn't worry too often about his work, and he'd been extremely quiet this week, which was different. He met her eyes, waited for a second, then spoke.

"Yes. I found something out a few days ago…" Hurt flashed past his eyes for a second and he quickly cleared his throat. "You've been dating Mason and hiding that from me." Her jaw fell and she flinched at his statement. How had he figured that out?

"Y-You knew about that?"

"I did know Tyler and Henry were at the reunion, and at some point of time I'm pretty sure I overheard Tyler asking his grandfather about you and Mason dating. I asked, and Henry confirmed it." Suddenly it felt as though the environment had grown extremely thick and dense, she felt a wave of guilt and bowed her head. Was he angry with her? Would he forbid her to date Mason too? "I'm not mad at you, Charlotte, but, I want to know why you kept that from me. I hoped to build this family on trust, so it hurts that you didn't trust me with that information." Her stomach emptied and her heart began to sink beneath the waves of guilt, she felt like shit.

"I…I'm sorry PJ. It's just, Mason and I were afraid you would have forbidden us from seeing each other at the time." PJ closed his eyes and leaned back, sighing deeply.

"I probably wouldn't have liked it, and I'm not too sure I like it now, but that's not because of who he is related to or anything. He's a boy, that's enough reason for me to forbid you from dating him." She heard Skyler chuckle and smiled herself, she couldn't be upset with that answer. Who was she to put blame on him for being protective? "I'd hope you would listen to me, but hell, your sister never listened to anything Dad said to us, who would I be to assume you'd be the same way? Clearly you'd date the guy with or without my approval. I would much rather you be honest with me than to be dishonest." Honesty was everything, and truly was the very foundation this family was based upon.

"I understand. I'm sorry PJ, I'll be more honest about things…" She'd probably slip up every once in a while, but they already knew that. She was glad he wasn't too mad at her, but she did feel bad about keeping her relationship from her. Chances were likely that he and Skyler also already talked about it. "I'm sorry for putting Skyler in that position too. She did know about the relationship."

"I know, we discussed it."

"You forgive me?"

"Of course." Her heart rose up and he gave her a quick hug. "I love my sis, can't stay mad at you for long. You know that." After the hug, he handed the badge over to Petunia. She set her knitting down and lifted her eyes to the family. Her lips pulled back into a straight face and her chest rose with a slow breath.

"This week's been bittersweet. It's been hard becoming accustomed to all the changes, but I'm managing. I've been dreaming about Hank all week. I can't stop thinking about him, about our life together, and I just…I know I'm not alone, but I feel alone. It's hard. I feel like a broken record, going on and on about my life and all the changes I've had to make, but is it my fault I feel like I shouldn't have to deal with all this? I'm angry, I'm heartbroken, and I feel like I don't deserve this…"

"No one should have to go through what you're going through," Skyler started. Her voice was soft, a comfort to anyone in that room. Charlotte breathed in and gazed at her Nana with a caring gaze, forgetting her own problems for that instant. "I know it's hard, and you're not a broken record. We're all here for you, even my parents are here for you. Have you been keeping in touch with them?"

"Oh yes, and they've been nothing but generous. I'm glad to know them, a little jealous of them, but that's okay."

"Jealous?"

"Well yes, they're the grandparents that my granddaughter's known all her life." Charlotte laughed and moved over to hug her. Amato lifted his head and whimpered, he'd been so comfortable on her feet. Petunia smiled after the hug and pat her on the back.

"I love you Nana, you're a great grandma, and I don't think I could ever compare you with Grandma Bosca. I wouldn't do that."

"Thank you dear, I love you too sweetie." Once she returned to her seat, Amato gleefully put his head back on her feet. She smiled and reached down, patting the dog's head. Petunia breathed in and lifted up her knitting. "I may be old, but I feel like I have more life left to live than anything, and I don't want to die anytime soon. I fully intend to beat both David and Amanda at Bridge, as well as the other games we play." She looked down to the badge and gently tossed it over to Skyler. "Your turn, dear."

This ought to be interesting, Charlotte was eager to hear how Skyler's first week at the hospital had been. Skyler held the badge and lifted her eyebrows. "Well, where do I begin? Working at the hospital is an experience, that's for sure. I enjoy it, but it's hard to see patients that don't leave the hospital…the ones that pass away, but Dr. Reed and the other nurses have helped me get over that."

"Has anyone passed away?" Charlotte asked, curious. She knew Skyler worked the cardiovascular and neurological sections, her specialty was based on the diseases of the heart and the brain. She was close to the emergency room, and probably called on to the unit frequently.

When she asked the question, Skyler's face seemed to harden, as though there was a death. "People die all the time at the hospitals, you force yourself to get used to it, but you don't always get used to it. There was one that's still fresh on my mind for some reason. First day of work, this young girl that has been in the hospital for a few days…" She paused and looked down towards her feet. The others shifted and looked over, full of concern and worry. "She was only eighteen, full of health, had the world in her hands. She was friendly, always smiled at the staff. The reason she'd been in the hospital was because of a fight she got into with her boyfriend…her heart started racing to the point she had to come into the emergency room. I was monitoring her heart, it wasn't stopping, and in one moment she was smiling and talking, the next…" She froze, her eyes shut and her hands closed. PJ reached over and put his hand to hers. Charlotte felt a sudden chill and bowed her head, she couldn't picture someone so young passing away, or, she wouldn't be able to picture that if she didn't know it was possible.

"Did…did her boyfriend hit her?"

"No, that's the thing, it was just a very heated argument with the man. She had a heart aneurysm, a complicated one at that." Charlotte gasped and lifted her head quickly. Still, aneurysms had no cure, and they were the most sudden, deadliest conditions to have. "The reason she was still in the hospital, besides her heart still not showing signs of slowing…everyone knew she had an aneurysm, she claimed she didn't tell anyone because she didn't want to be turned away."

"I can understand that…I think…" The sense of hopelessness when you're faced with being, quite literally, a ticking time bomb, was the most devastating feeling. She didn't know how it felt because she didn't have to go through it, but she was certain it caused a lot of stress on the person and their families. Hell, this girl was brave to have a boyfriend, knowing how much grief it would cause. "To think she had a boyfriend, and he didn't know?"

"Evidently not. The thing is, her medical history, aneurysms ran in her family on both sides. Almost all of her family, her parents and her grandparents, passed before the age of twenty. She'd been orphaned and was living with family, her parents both passed before thirty, her father was twenty…her dad had a brain aneurysm and her mother had one in the heart, it was the most tragic thing I've ever seen, and it's hard…extremely hard…to look into the eyes of someone who has lost all hope in life…"

There was a silence in the air, and it clung like a dense fog. There were no words that could be said in this moment, only tears that flowed from their eyes. "How…did the boyfriend react…if you don't mind the question?"

"He was shaken. His family, the girl's family, they came together to help each other cope. It was hard to tell them that she didn't make it." That was the thing about aneurysms though, you really couldn't do anything that involved high stress. You probably could get away with it for a while if the aneurysm wasn't in the heart, if it was in the brain, you wouldn't want to get a head injury or anything.

After a few minutes of silence, mild attempts at comfort, Skyler handed over the badge. By now, Charlotte could hardly even remember the reason she'd been angry. Between PJ's week, Nana's concerns, and what happened at Skyler's work, her problem just seemed so small. Emmett's prompt, sudden refusal of Mason's dating her and the suspicious nature of Brittany, she just couldn't fathom it having any impact.

Her body shook as she stared down at the badge. "I…" She felt both PJ and Skyler rest their hands onto her arm. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly. "Brittany told Mr. Heglin about me. He forbade me from dating Mason, said something about it being better that we didn't form that kind of connection. I don't even know what Brittany has against us…it doesn't matter, it just seems so trivial…"

"I wouldn't say it's trival," PJ replied. He set Teddy on the ground and watched as she cuddled up with Amato. "I think there's a reason Emmett's adamant about you not dating him, it can't be because of our connection…" He started rubbing his chin and lifting his shoulders.

"As if, it's this stupid grudge…the fact that he feels like you abandoned him and doesn't want to risk me abandoning Mason or something."

"Probably. Things get worse before they get better, Charlotte." He reached over and gave her a gentle hug. "It'll be all right. Things have a funny way of working out."

"Yeah."

"It's late and I think we could all use some sleep." The others agreed and started moving towards their separate rooms. Charlotte put Teddy in her crib, then moved to her bedroom. After pulling the sheets up to her neck, Amato hopped up onto the bed and curled up next to her. She smiled and moved her arm around Amato, exhaling softly. She did feel better after that family talk, so maybe she could get used to it.

What an intriguing conversation. Your thoughts? Insights? Suspicions? Stick around!