Getting Up 4 - (Twilight AU, Charlie-MC)

It was 2003 and, by all means, Charlie was not feeling the sorrow he had coming for him in the late 90s.

The man had risen up to the 'previous' status quo he had before meeting his ex, and, even though it was far from a happy guy that could barely see his only daughter, it was enough to make him less self-conscious of his worth.

He wasn't cocky or anything, but he was a police officer and one that had been doing clean jobs for a while now. Sure, Forks was not a crime-riddled town, but it wasn't a matter of big cases, but how many of those were handled in the best way possible.

Charlie was punctual, he was careful, and the chief had taken a liking for him so he ended up becoming his successor. The job was far from the same he had been experiencing in a while, but the pay was extra good and he could afford to catch a few breaks whenever the situation was clean in town.

He had finished painting a few more rooms at home, giving it a more 'lively' appearance for those visiting. At this point, it was mostly Billy, Harry or even little Leah.

He had thought the girl would have grown out of the 'Uncle Charlie' thing as she started puberty, especially with a few unsurprising reports of her short temper flaring at some unpleasant boys in her classes, but the kid was as mellow as sugar and as disciplined as he liked to see as a parent.

Harry also mentioned she was quite tame at home, so it was fair to say that Leah felt 'freer' when around people she trusted as family. And yet... these months have been odds.

The first issue for Charlie started when a new family moved in Forks. The Cullens were a complete mystery for the entire town, but most of the gossiping was less on the suspicious details of their family and more on their 'unnatural beauty'.

Charlie was a man like many others, but he was also a police chief and one that had to bleed and sweat to get where he was now. And one thing that stood out from the overall friendly encounter with Carlisle Cullen was the bizarre way he moved around with words.

It wasn't something suspicious like a criminal trying to hide something would- no, Charlie actually felt like he was talking with someone older than him. He hadn't asked the good doctor how old it was- hell,that stupid question would have made him suspicious to the guy, but it wasn't a question of 'a few years'.

In a rather unsettling manner, talking with Carlisle felt like speaking with his own father.

There was something like an 'accent' through the wording used within each phrase. It was masterfully-crafted, a display of an old man that was accustomed to speak with people and has been doing so for many years. The more Charlie mulled over it, the more he felt like he was going overboard with that detail.

Especially when the rest of the family was just as odd as its head.

All nice kids from the way they were regarded in town mere months into living in Forks, but the idea that they were all adopted kids felt like... such a strange phenomenon. The good doctor was a good samaritan, that felt fitting, but there was something that united them that only one with enough perspective could notice.

Their eyes were all golden yellow.

He thought that it was maybe a detail that had pushed for the adoption, but even then- something didn't feel right. And Charlie wasn't sure how to broach into the matter. Not when Carlisle was a busy doctor and one that was being a blessing for most of those that couldn't afford the price of doctors with the quality of skills like his own.

To make things even more perplexing, Billy seemed to know more than him. The wheelchaired old buddy of his was keen to warn Charlie to not spend time with the Cullens. The warning was quite sudden and it had prodded out the very curiosity that made Charlie a hound for clues, but Billy actually pulled back from giving him more details.

It was frustrating as he felt this was really important and he really didn't want to press it on Billy, or even Harry, as a police chief rather than their childhood friend. And if things weren't getting stranger, a particular late afternoon saw him answering an urgent call from Billy right as he was on his way to get some rest.

"You lost- What?!"

"Look, I get it. I know we never told you about the wolves but... one of them ran away. Young, female, and quite frightened. I understand that I should have told you but-"

"Have you called the proper authorities? Bill, I am a police chief, not an expert on animals!"

"We did, but we are worried for her. Charlie, trust me and... I mean it, you need to find her. I don't need Forks to start anything that could further agitate things, so it has to be you."

"...Fine. But I need to get home to change. It's best that I am not in uniform so no one thinks something is up if I am moving around in the car."

"Thanks."

Billy and his family takes care of... wolves? Since when? That was another mystery this year for him to try and understand.

Still, as the call ended, Charlie cursed whoever screwed with his plans for a simple early day off from work, and then got back home. As he finished parking and got out of the car, the man walked up to the porch and... realized that someone had opened the front door.

It wasn't a forced entry, rather someone had used the emergency key he had kept stored under one of the plants' pots he had by the window outside. There were a few people that knew of it and, mostly unsurprisingly, Charlie noticed a certain girl that had seemingly skipped school.

"Leah?"

The girl jumped by the couch, eyes wide open as she was caught watching some shows on TV.

"U-Uncle Charlie, didn't know you were getting back so soon."

"Got the chance to go back home early," The man pointed out calmly, then frowned at the girl. "I hope you had a good reason to miss school."

"Uncle Billy told us to stay at home since some of us kids got sick but... I got bored."

Charlie refrained from face-palming at that silly situation. "Just keep inside. Your uncle and dad are looking for a wolf that got out from the reserve. I was asked to look for them."

"A-A wolf? Big one or-"

"Small, and I think it's female," Charlie paused, then groaned. "Billy forgot to tell me what other details to keep in mind. I guess I will give him a call and-"

"Silver fur," Leah blurted out, her comment getting another frown from her uncle figure. "I-I mean, I saw her. She has a pretty silver fur. No need to call Uncle Billy."

"Silver fur," He nodded as he repeated these words. "I still have to call him for other details so-"

"P-Please don't."

He sighed, the man still moving towards the phone. "I promise I will not tell him you are here, but I need to know that-"

"Uncle Charlie!" Panic and then shock, the former from Leah, the other from Charlie as, before his eyes, the girl jumped high and then landed after morphing into a little wolf. Clothes torn apart, there was the silver fur mentioned by the girl right in front of him.

...

Leah was the wolf that Billy was missing.

Had this happened earlier that morning, back when he had enough caffeine running inside his body, Charlie would have panicked a lot more than he was now. Instead of staring at the petrified wolf as she whined awkwardly at the situation, he would have done some screaming and running.

Instead Charlie was frozen for a moment, then approached Leah. He wanted to touch her head, her ears, to know that this was just some dream as he had possibly crashed his car somewhere for a stroke or a heart attack.

Everything rational screamed at him to find solution within logic, but all he found himself doing was, unconsciously so, frighten the little wolf to go around the couch and... try to put it between him and her. It took two silent but intense minutes for Charlie to recoil properly, and a few more seconds to realize what he had done from the terrified look on Leah's lupine face.

The man stopped, he put his open palm to his face and then sighed heavily against it. Charlie may not have gotten a stroke to trigger this, but he may as well trigger one by behaving like this and not calming down at once.

"...I am not angry. I want to understand what I am looking at, Leah."

The wolf was hesitant some more, but slowly slipped onto the couch and 'morphed back into a human under the blanket. Since the clothes had been ripped away during that 'transformation', the kid was pretty much nude under that.

"And maybe you need a fresh pair of clothes," Charlie sniffed, looking away quickly rather than mortify the poor girl some more. "I'll go get some."

"Thanks, Uncle Charlie," Leah replied with a surprisingly tiny voice. But before Charlie could truly go, she stopped him for a moment. "A-And-"

"Yes?"

"I am sorry for the mess." The teen politely apologized, possibly mentioning the shredded clothes- or the fact that she gave him such a big surprise he was now contemplating if he should face the migraine or actually touch beer after years of sobriety.

In the end, Charlie merely paused by the doorstep and looked at the girl's visible head from the couch with a caring smile.

"None of that, kiddo. Just let me get you some clothes before you get really sick."

To someone like Charlie Swan, nothing could have prepared him to discover the most intense thing possible. And no, it wasn't that Forks was now contended by a group of Vampires and Werewolves...

But the fact that his two long-standing friends had lied to him for so many years and then expected him to just 'forget what happened'!

AN

Next time sees Charlie having a loud conversation with his childhood friends, he ends up taking a bit of a walk in town and his eyes find someone that may not mind having someone to have a stroll with for a while.

Pairing? Dunno, but both may need someone to lean on from time to time.