Carrying on the Torch

Disclaimer: I don't own Good Luck Charlie

A/N:

Chapter 41 (Deep Thinking)

Charlotte watched television with Dee and Regina, but she wasn't overly focused on the gathering, since there wasn't anything on. She was sitting in the middle of the couch with Dee to her right, and Regina to her left. Her mind was wandering and she was stuck on everything that had been going on lately. She was still upset over the video, which was why the girls were here, to get her mind off of what she'd seen.

It had been two weeks, and today was January 30th, her sister's would-be twenty ninth birthday. PJ, Ivy, and Skyler were out at dinner somewhere, while Mason and Emmett were off doing some Uncle-Nephew day. Baby Teddy was playing with a stuffed animal, using words she was learning. She'd started talking just days ago, a happy occasion that Charlotte was able to get on her camera.

The case that Dee had worked up against Eric was going strong, and several girls were testifying against him. He had a jury, and a final hearing coming up relatively soon. Regina's mom and Spencer were growing ever closer, which was a very good thing. Spencer had truly begun to shape himself up in recent weeks, from what Regina was saying, so that was good news.

"Still nothing on?" She asked lazily. Dee shook her head and continued pressing the remote. In the last many years the once great television networks finally died out. Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and even the Disney Channel had been transformed into shit. Cartoon Network was gone for good, completely removed, due to the illegitimate shows that had aired. Nickelodeon was still relatively decent, since the director of shows such as iCarly, Drake and Josh, and so forth, was still there. He'd brought back many old fashioned type shows, which made it worth watching, but it was still only a small block. Disney, like Cartoon Network, had taken a turn for the worse. There was a time when four actors vied for the network. Shia Lebouf was one, he wanted to bring the network back to the old days, when it was good. Bridget Mendler was another, and then there was Selena Gomez versus Miley Cyrus. Bridget gave up the fight in 2014, Shia went back to his action roles and stayed away from Disney altogether. He was the 2020's George Clooney! Selena had actually been respectable, but Miley had more money.

Now, worse than ever, all Disney was made up of was wannabe pop stars that couldn't sing, and every single show was some musical show that sucked.

"What's on Nick right now?" Regina asked. Dee flipped over to Nickelodeon and lowered her arm as the trio watched commercials for some new toy. Charlotte lifted her eyes up and exhaled.

"All these years, and people still haven't found use for removing commercials." Dee lifted her shoulders and shook her head.

"People have to make a buck somehow. At least commercials only last a little bit, as opposed to years ago."

"True." These days, there was perhaps one or two super short commercials in one television show, which made the show last a little longer. Nickelodeon had some of their old bumpers back as well, so some of the executives must have realized that the golden age of the network was what could bring up ratings, so they started making shows similar to the concepts and styles of Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, and so on. Unfortunately, there was still one nightmare that, for some god awful reason, was still in existence.

We now return to our hour long special of Spongebob Squarepants!

"Oh crap, not this thing!" The girls shouted. Dee dropped the remote on the couch and Regina slapped her hand in the air, pointing it to the television. "This thing is as old as my Uncle, John!" John was born around 1999, married Alice's sister, Taylor. Spongebob had, sadly, been around for nearly twenty five years. Charlotte cringed and started to reach for the remote, pausing for only a moment.

"I wonder what the special is that they're doing…" Her friends gave her an odd look, as if she'd suddenly grown an extra body part. She shrugged and grabbed the remote, then clicked the info button. Her eyebrows rose as she read the words that popped up in the info screen. "The series finale? They're finally ending it?" Her eyes drifted to the clock above the television, the show was almost over. Her friends stared at the screen as she clicked off the info screen and saw the characters in a Bikini Bottom cemetery. "Would it hurt to see the last few minutes of this?" Death, it was all around her it seemed like, and now this was just another reminder that death was here. Strange, that it would be in a beloved childhood cartoon.

"I guess we could," Dee replied with a shrug. "I'm interested in seeing what's going on." There were various characters, but Spongebob was not in the scene. Rather, a Preacher fish standing in front of a brown casket.

"So who died? In a cartoon…" Patrick was sobbing over the casket, Sandy had on a black suit with an apparent black veil, holding onto a bouquet of flowers. Squidward was patting her shoulder and shaking his head sadly. Mr. Krabbs was gazing sadly some money in his large claw, as though even money wasn't making him feel any better. "This is pretty serious…"

"We are here today to mourn our friend, Spongebob Squarepants, who valiantly rescued Sandy Cheeks and Patrick Star from the clutches of lifetime rival, Mr. Plankton." Sandy began to weep as Mr. Krabbs closed his claws around his money, practically shredding it. "In Mr. Squarepants struggle with Plankton, who had begun the self destruct of his own building, he managed to hold Plankton off long enough for Patrick and Sandy to flee from the roof to safety. It is with deepest sympathies that we've gathered here today, to thank Spongebob for his bravery and courage, and to pray for his soul. He is in a much better place."

The scene pulled at Charlotte's heartstrings, striking her with sudden, excessive force. It wasn't because it was Spongebob that they were talking about, no, it was still the subject matter. Too close for comfort. Dee and Regina were frozen stiff, their mouths gaping in shock. Sure the people that used to love Spongebob were all adults now, which of course did mean ratings for the show plummeted, but killing him off in the series finale seemed a bit harsh. Hell, she was actually starting to sympathize with the characters in the show!

"So…we missed something big apparently," Regina sputtered. She blinked several times and cleared her throat. "The show's end…as much as I don't like it, am I the only one that feels bad for the characters?" Charlotte slowly shook her head while Dee let out a single scoffing nervous chuckle.

"I'm…sure Spongebob will pop up at any minute now." They watched as the service continued on, as the coffin lowered into the ground, and finally as funeral guests started to depart. Sandy, Patrick, and Squidward were all that remained, until even Squidward slowly departed. After a long moment, Patrick even walked away, with no idea where he would go from there. Sandy remained before the tombstone as the sun began to set in the horizon.

Charlotte grasped at her chest and gasped lightly as she watched the sadness on the squirrel's face. It was evident that Spongebob was not coming back. Death, always a finalization. There was no way around it, not even for a cartoon character anymore. "Poor Sandy…" Dee and Regina nodded their agreement of the statement and breathed deep. "What a day for this episode…"

Regina looked over, confused, and Dee reminded her quietly of what day it was. "It's such a natural thing, but it shouldn't happen tragically," Dee spoke.

"It makes you think, just how quickly life can slip away." She bowed her head, recalling still what Brittany had said so long ago about Mason. "It seems long ago, but it's really not…" Dee and Regina looked over at her and she gently rubbed her eye, trying not to let a tear fall. "Something's in my eye."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I just…" She lowered her hand and exhaled. She had an odd feeling, one that she simply could not describe. Her eyes flicked to the screen and she felt a sudden jolting force inside, crashing against her like a tidal wave. Her gut shifted as if someone just punched her and tore the wind from her body. She put her hand to her stomach and narrowed her eyes. What was this sickening feeling? She turned her gaze to the picture on the wall to their right, an old family portrait of the Duncan family. Standing there in front of the image, she thought she saw her mother, father, brother and sister gazing sadly at her. As if it was by the slip of hand, they were gone, just a mistake of a hallucination. Mind tricks. "I wonder if there's something to what Brittany said before…" Regina raised an eyebrow and Dee crossed her arms.

"About what? Mason?"

"Yeah, the whole aneurysm thing."

"You haven't asked him about it yet?" Regina stared with disbelief, stunned that she'd not brought it up with Mason. She lifted her shoulders and leaned back in her chair.

"I don't really believe her enough…I have my concerns, yeah, and I've thought about what would happen if it were true but that's about it. I really don't like to think about it." It was hard to think about something so tender, so painful, especially when she was already dealing with truly coping after her family's loss. "I don't know how I'd react if it were true. Like…why didn't he tell me, or why would he not trust me with that information? Did he think I would overreact?"

"You do overreact to a few things," Dee laughed and nudged her in the side once. Charlotte smiled and rolled her eyes, brushing her friend's arm away. "But I can understand his worry if he's dated other people who have freaked out."

"Yeah, but when Skyler told me about the girl that died in the hospital, without telling anyone about her brain aneurysm…she hid it because she didn't want to be judged, didn't want people treating her like they were afraid to get close or as though they pitied her."

"Right, so if Mason truly had some kind of brain aneurysm, I'd think he'd have the same worries."

"I wouldn't reject him though…"

"I doubt you would." Dee took the remote and flipped off the television. "You think Brittany would lie about this? I mean, sure she's a nut, but would she stoop this low?"

Regina put her heels up on the coffee table in front of her and leaned back. "You know…" She moved her hands behind her head. "It would certainly explain why his Uncle's so uptight. You have to think, the stress of caring for a possibly dying nephew is really terrible…" The sinking feeling returned to her and her stomach started to feel like an empty pit. She eyed Regina with concern and let her lips fall into a frown. "I know all the pain my family's gone through, there are so few of us still alive…unlike your family, my family had the gradual death…"

"Yeah, I know. Terrible…" She just couldn't imagine what it must be like to know someone who really is dying, someone you know won't live much longer. "The closest I have to that is Nana, but she may live for several years." God she hated the concept of death, it was a terrible subject! "It shouldn't happen, it shouldn't happen for a long time...people shouldn't die young."

The front door opened and the group jumped in surprise. They looked over to see PJ walking in. He waved at them, then smoothed his hand through his hair. "How's your day going guys?" Charlotte hopped up from the couch and moved over to him. She was wondering how his day went.

"It was all right! You're home early."

"I know. Skyler got called in to the emergency room and Ivy took off home, so I had to come back." She frowned at him.

"That sucks. I hope everything's okay."

"Hopefully. I don't know much, other than there's been a car accident and Dr. Reed needed Skyler in immediately." PJ removed his coat and tossed it onto the coat rack. "Anything interesting happen in your day?"

"Not really. Though, Spongebob Squarepants had its final episode." PJ chuckled and started heading towards the kitchen. Dee and Regina were gathering their jackets from the couch and pulling them onto their backs. Charlotte glanced at them with a wistful frown, they needed to get back to their own families. "I'm just going to say goodbye to Dee and Regina…"

"All right."

She followed the girls outside and hugged them. They had actually had a very long and exciting day. After their departure, she received a text message from Brittany. She raised her eyebrows and opened it up, skeptical of the girl. As she read the message, her eyes began to widen.

"You need to get to the hospital, quick. One of my friends just said Mason was in an accident. Don't know if it's true or not, but it happened about thirty minutes ago."

Her heart grew tight in her chest and body began to shake. Thirty minutes prior had been around the time she'd started having that unexplainable sadness. Without stopping to think about telling PJ, she rushed to her bike and pulled it from the garage. She hopped on and started pedaling as fast as possible, she needed to know if what Brittany said was true or not. If the girl was messing with her head, she was going to be pissed.

Though, there was no time to think about it, she just needed to see Mason. She had to know that he was okay.

Who knew such a, there are no words to describe, so-indescribable show (Yes, I do not like Spongebob), could carry such impact and thoughts about life. Then there's Mason.