III. Penne

Abby subtly shook the urge to laugh away and watched his crooked smirk become a kind smile. She went to look back to her canvas, adjusting herself in her stool while trying to catch her breath after staring at Edward for far too long. What on earth was he doing to her?

"I'm sorry," Abby began, squeezing out a few colors of oil paint onto her palette.

Edward watched in awe as she almost instantly got lost into creating a new color with the ones she already started with. Edward also intently listened has he got rejected.

She continued releasing a deep breath, "I need to make my brother something for dinner when he gets back from work. The man thinks cereal is a meal to eat three times a day."

The young brunette started to softly stroke her paint brush at the top right corner of her white canvas that she already applied liquid white on. She wanted to say yes, as horrified as she was with the idea of it. But he was so, so profoundly curious that it made her want to tell him everything. It absolutely terrified her.

From the corner of her eye, she saw him nod and adjust his very own aisle, "I now see why they call it 'southern hospitality'."

Abby felt her jaw drop at the accusation, making her turn her head towards him to see him smirk at her humorously. He turned away from her to grab an unopened package of charcoal so that he could start on his bushes. The dead man knew how play instruments and draw bushes.

The girl went back to her artwork, shaking her head at the insult, and heeded, "Fine, tomorrow after school then. I'll show you the three mile radius that is Forks, Washington."

Edward almost sprang off the walls and danced in circle around her but he kept his cool and said, "I'll drive."

She rushed out of the classroom, barely bidding adieu to the boy who was making her question her sanity or maybe she was making herself question her own sanity - she wasn't so sure. Abby went to her locker and grabbed the necessary books she needed for tonight and her umbrella because she knew from her art class window that it was raining.

The moment she got into her car, she released the largest breath of air she was holding the entire day. One day down, she repeated to herself. Abby closed her eyes and held onto the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles slowly turned to a ghastly white. Leaning her forehead against the top of the wheel, she breathed out again - slower this time.

One day down.

She swallowed the lump in her throat harshly and slowly pulled out of the parking lot, completely unaware of the familiar topaz eyes watching her leave.

Abby didn't realize going home would feel worse than going to school. Maybe it was because no one was ever home anymore. She parked her car in the driveway, leaving enough room for her brothers Dodge Challenger he bought while he was a detective in Seattle.

She unlocked the door to her quiet house and dropped her bag off at the kitchen table before rushing upstairs to her room and curling up in her bed. Her room still felt like her room. Most of her walls were covered by paintings done by her, many of them water colors or oil paintings of Washington's landscapes, except the wall behind her bed. It was mostly bare, a mute gray tone but over the weeks she finished painting a soft plum chrysanthemum coming out of the brown frame of her bed.

Bringing her knees up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around herself and willed herself to not shed a tear. She wasn't going to do this again - not today. She had to prove to herself and Jay that she could do this. Abby was strong enough to do this on her own even if she was on her own. She'd find distractions. She'd try to bring back her friends into her life - everyone from Forks and the Reservation. Even if they were distractions, she loved them with all her heart.

Abby was trying so hard to be okay. But every time she closed her eyes, she heard her fathers hearty laugh from the living room and her mothers quiet humming while cleaning the dishes. She'd see her father come home from work, pinch her mothers side and her mother swatting him with a dish rag, then he'd place a kiss on top of Abby's head. Everything reminded her of them - even the dark hair and brown eyes she inherited from her father and her nose and cheekbones that looked exactly like her moms. Everything.

She sighed, forcing herself to get up from her bed wiping whatever unwanted moisture had formed in her eyes and trudged her way downstairs to start preparing a meal for her brother and her. Picking out the ingredients for a quick chicken Alfredo penne pasta she knew to make extra for her neighbor up the road Charlie Swan. Cooking for Charlie healed her more than she wanted to admit.

Her father was always close to Charlie Swan. Years ago when Charlie's daughter and wife left him, it was Abby's father - along with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater - who picked up the pieces. Her family didn't always live in Forks, Washington. Abby was barely a baby when her family moved here because her mother wanted to move to a small town since Olympia just wasn't doing it for her anymore - and the first person Abby's father met at the police station was Charlie Swan. Needless to say, Charlie Swan missed his best friend.

"Hey, ugly!" the girl heard her brothers loving nickname as he walked in through the door. She rolled her eyes when she heard his heavy footsteps walk into the kitchen. "I'm starving."

Abby turned her head slightly to the nuisance that was her brother. She glared at him and he only smiled at her, rubbing his belly over his deputy uniform.

"Seriously," he continued, pulling out a chair from the kitchen table and relaxing in it, "I'm losing calories here!"

"And this is why you've been single for three years, Jason." Abby hissed, placing a plate in front of him and next to him.

He gasped, placing a hand over his heart, "It's only been two and a half!"

She stared at him unimpressed before placing a heaping pile of pasta on his plate and passing him the grated parmesan. Jason quickly shook the parmesan around his plate and then, moaned disgustingly as he placed a large bite in his mouth and gave her a thumbs up.

Abby looked at the ceiling, pinching the nerve on the bridge of her nose wondering how this thing sitting at her table was her brother. She shook her head before placing a smaller amount of pasta on her plate and placing the rest on the stove to let it heat before she would head over to Charlie. Taking a seat, she grabbed the parmesan before sprinkling a bit onto her pasta.

Her older brother swallowed thickly before saying, "How was school today?"

She played with her fork a bit before shrugging and saying, "The same."

"I'm sure something had to have happened."

She debated on telling him about Edward but decided against it. The last thing she wanted to do was deal with the onslaught of questions he would have. So, she shrugged again.

"So," Jason started, stabbing a couple pieces of penne with his fork, "heard something interesting from Charlie today."

Abby lifted her head slightly from her plate and placed a bite in her mouth, asking, "What?"

Jason grinned, "They found a great doctor for the hospital, Abs. He's apparently a really good guy, kinda young though, like 29 or 30?"

She was pushing the pasta round with her fork, saying, "Well, young doesn't mean anything. He's probably a prodigy."

Laughing, Jason said, "Our very own Doogie Howser. Oh, he's got kids at the high school!" Jason remembered. "Maybe you met them? The doc's name is Carlisle Cullen."

Her head snapped up instantly, did he just say Cullen? As in Edward Cullen?

"I uh -" Abby cleared her throat, "I met the doctor's adopted son today. He's got a couple of classes with me."

"Son?" Of course, Jason chooses to hear that.

Abby rolled her eyes, "Not the point, JD."

His eyebrows were furrowed in a straight line and he gave her a look, before saying, "So, Carlisle adopted the son?"

"His name's Edward,"

"Oh, so the son has a name, huh?"

"Everyone has a name, JD," Abby groaned. Why does she talk? Who lets her talk? JD was definitely the reason Abby never brought home a boy - well, that and there was no one in Forks she even remotely desired.

"Mhm," Jason mumbled through his bite of pasta. "You know who else had a name? Judas. And that guy was the devil." Abby groaned and he ignored her, continuing, "So, does the son have anymore siblings?"

Oh, thank god, she reached her escape. She swiftly nodded, "A few, and they're all adopted."

Jason's eyes widened, "Carlisle adopted all of them? Ya know, I heard his wife's niece lives with them too." Jason nodded approvingly, finishing the last of his dinner, "Carlisle sounds like a good guy, might find him for a beer."

"Can you not corrupt a doctor? Please and thank you." Abby sarcastically said, before grabbing their plates and placing them in the sink.

"Me?! Corrupt?!" Jason squealed.

Abby threw a dish towel at him, which he caught reflexively, and said, "Do the dishes, you donkey. I'm gonna' pack the rest of this up and bring it over to Charlie. Also, there's left over chocolate pie from the weekend."

"Pie!?"

Abby knocked on the familiar door twice before coming face to face with Charlie Swan, who grinned at the young girl.

"You need to stop, kiddo," he let her in and she beelined to the kitchen. "I appreciate it but I'm letting out every pair of pants I've got."

"Buy new ones," Abby shrugged, placing the pasta in his oven to keep it warm.

"Thanks for the solution, Abs," he deadpanned, his thick brown mustache frowning at her, and she only gave him a cheeky smirk. "But I need to save every penny I can; I'm trying to buy that old truck from Billy."

She raised an eyebrow at him, "The big orange one that Billy forgot to leave in 1983?"

"Funny," Charlie sneered at her, before going to his fridge and grabbing a canned beer. He leaned against the kitchen counter before continuing, "But yes, I want to buy it for Bella."

Abby's eyes bulged out of her sockets, "Wait, Bella Bella? Bella Swan!?"

Charlie chuckled at her enthusiasm, "Yes, the very one."

"I can't believe it!" Abby felt strangely happy hearing Bella's name. "I haven't seen her since I was like 12."

"Yeah, I know she remembers you. It'd be nice for her to see a familiar face." Charlie took a sip of his drink before saying, "Her mother said she wouldn't be able to come here till the middle of her school year. That's when Renee and her new husband start the baseball season but she can't wait to come."

Abby raised an eyebrow, baseball season?

Charlie let out a small laugh, "I don't know either, kid." He noticed her far away glance - it was probably the only thing he sees in her now. She had eyes that shined even in the darkest area of any forrest, the biggest brown eyes he'd ever seen even when she was a little kid. And they were always so light like the polished amber of mahogany. He's never seen them so dark before. "How was your first day back?" Charlie wondered, trying to reel her back in.

She nodded softly, and replied, "Okay."

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Everyone kept looking at me," she suddenly said, surprising herself and Charlie. Abby clenched her eyes shut, angry she let something vulnerable slip. She cleared her throat, before adjusting her sleeves and glanced at him, "It was as normal as it could've been, I guess."

Charlie released a sigh, placing his drink on the counter and looked at the troubled girl. "It's okay to miss them, Abs, I do everyday." She nodded at his words, words completely refusing to escape. "But it's not okay to lose yourself. They wouldn't have wanted that."

She winced, "I know." She was working on it.

"Why don't you go down to the Reservation? You know, I'm sure Leah wants to see her best friend - would be awful nice of you to give her a call."

Abby didn't have to look at him to know he was giving her a snide look. "Charlie," she practically whined.

"Hey, I'm just saying," he held out his hands defensively in front of him. "You can't kick out all your friends out of your life."

"I'm not kicking them out. I just -"

"-want to be alone." He finished for her. Charlie shook his head and took a seat at the kitchen table, motioning for her to do the same. Abby sat at the edge of her seat, looking down at the chipped wood of his table and started picking at it with her finger nail. He cleared his throat, uncomfortably, "You know, Sammy didn't let me kick him out of my life when Renee and Bella left."

She scoffed, "Yeah, sounds like dad. He also told me he got you hammered every weekend."

Charlie let out a small chuckle, "With a baseball game, of course."

"Of course," Abby rolled her eyes. Charlie and her father - and sometime's Jason whenever he was home - ignored everyone and everything whenever there was a baseball game on. For Christ sake's, she couldn't even name one team in the MLB.

"But what I'm trying to get at, Abs, is that I would've never gotten over it if it wasn't for him, Billy, and Harry." She clenched her jaw. "Family doesn't always end in blood. The people you've known all your life who care about you is family." Charlie saw her look up at him with unshed tears in her eyes and nodded at her. Swallowing down any unease with affection, he patted her hand that was on the table twice while saying, "I'm family. Always."

A/N: Charlie is a DILF and you can't tell me otherwise. Soooo, how do you like the story so far? Leave a review letting me know; I'd love to hear your thoughts about this! I see you guys favoriting/following this story, give the story a review as well!