Outtake 1
"Are we there yet?"
Charlie Swan groaned, having gotten that question at least a dozen times since they left the house hours ago. "Does it look like we are there yet?"
The little dark haired girl in the back seat, leaned forward and looked out the window, her brown eyes wide and curious. "Nope."
"Then we're not there yet," he said laughing when she scowled. "Bella, we will get there when we get there."
Though she mumbled under her breath, Charlie ignored him as he reached over and grabbed hold of Renee's hand, bringing it up to his lips. His wife smiled and bit her lip to keep from giggling.
"Gross, Dad!" Rosie grumbled from the other side of the backseat where she sat with her headphones covering her ears and an annoyed expression on her face. "I'm going to be emotionally traumatized by watching you and Mom kissing all the time!"
"Me too!" Bella laughed.
"You don't even know what emotionally traumatized means, Bella," Rosie teased.
"Uh huh," Bella whined.
"Then what does it mean?"
"I'm not telling you," Bella groused, folding her arms in front of her chest.
"Because you don't know," Rosie snickered.
"Girls, that's enough," Renee said, turning in her seat and looking back at them. "Now, we are almost there, so close your eyes."
"Mom!" they whined, but closed their eyes.
Charlie peeked at them through the rear view mirror, finding his youngest daughter trying to be sneaky by merely squinting. "No peeking, Bella!"
"That's not fair!" she laughed, closing her eyes tighter. "I want to see!"
"Just be patient, Bells," he chuckled with a shake of his head.
He drove them for another ten minutes before pulling up in front of the largest red oak in the Redwood National Park. Bella had been going on and on about them every sense learning about them in school last spring, begging him on a weekly basis to take her to see them in person. And now, he would get to see his little girl's face when she saw it.
Charlie and Renee shared a look before they climbed out and opened the back door, helping the girls out of the car and walking them around so that they were standing in front of the tree truck, which was so ten times as wide as he had ever seen.
"Okay, girls," he said as he and Renee took a few steps backward. "Open your eyes."
Rosie and Bella opened their eyes, their mouths opening as they looked around them. Bella laughed and ran up to the tree trunk and placed her arms on it, looking over her shoulder at him. The smile was worth the ten hours in the car.
"It's so pretty!" Bella squealed turning and leaning against it. "Thank you, Mommy. Thank you, Daddy!"
"You're welcome, sweetheart," Renee laughed. "Girls, get together. I want a picture."
Rosie groaned, but walked over to where her little sister was standing and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. They both smiled so big and so beautiful it brought tears to Charlie's eyes. His girls were everything to him and seeing them happy made all his hard work worth it.
"Come on, Rosie, let's look at another one!" Bella squealed, her long dark pigtails flowing behind her as she ran from one tree to the next.
"They're just trees, Bella," Rosie snickered, but followed her little sister as she absorbed each and every one of them.
"Look at her, Charlie," Renee murmured, slipping her hand in with his and leaning her head against her shoulder. "She's so happy."
"As she should be." He turned and pressed his lips against the top of her head. "You know, she wants a party at the roller rink in Port Angeles for her birthday. I called last week. It's not cheap, but I think we should do it."
"Yeah, I'll make the arrangements when we get back. Don't tell her, though. We won't hear about anything else for the next two months if we tell her now."
Charlie laughed. "That ain't no lie." He took a step toward the girls, pulling on Renee's hand. "Come on. Let's go explore with them."
They spent the rest of the day following Bella and Rosie from one tree to another. It was one of the best afternoons of Charlie's life.
Thank you for all the AMAZING reviews! I have a total of seven outtakes planned. Figured we'd start with fluffy one.
