Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Jan 5, 2009 23:17:06 GMT -5
[Midish Twilight; tag Bella and Edward ] After taking a few moments to recover from having second helpings of his daughter's cooking, Charlie was once again grateful that someone in the household could pull this stuff off. He'd managed to mumble something alone the lines of "Thanks Bells," as he sat back and caught his breath. It was too bad he'd missed Billy while he'd been out fishing, but he'd have to give him a call later to thank him for bringing over some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry. He let Bella clean up after their nice dinner, grinning while she wasn't looking. He as lucky to have such a good kid. It was moments like these where he felt he was the kid, but he figured it was a habit she had from living with Renee for so long. She was used to being in charge.
He regained the ability to move from his seat and stood up to grab his fishing pole and tackle box from the entrance, taking it to his little storage closet. Putting them in their spot, Charlie traded them for his Remington. He took it to the table after it had been cleared along with the small collection of oils and gadgets necessary for his task. Under practiced movements, Charlie carefully and swiftly disassembled his shotgun and began inspecting each intricate part. After extensively cleaning the barrel, he moved onto the smaller intricate parts, keeping his bore cleaner and lubricant at hand. "So what'd ya do today, Bells?" he finally asked a bit awkwardly. This part was always the hardest. He, of course, was interested in what his daughter was up to, but he'd been out of practice in the parenting stuff. Having her here every day was something he'd enjoyed, but he sometimes had the feeling he wasn't doing it well, or enough, or whatever. He wanted her to trust him and sort of just... guide her into naturally telling him stuff. But it was difficult when he was just starting to really know her again.
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Post by Bella Swan on Jan 6, 2009 22:33:44 GMT -5
((OOC: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is just before they go to play baseball isn’t it?))
What, with Edward’s demand to meet Charlie properly as he boyfriend, their impromptu meeting with Jacob and Billy and the excitement of vampire baseball on the horizon, Bella’s emotions were in turmoil. She had cooked Harry Clearwater’s fish fry with a level of mania that was not becoming of her cooking. As a result the fish ended up a little substandard to her usual level of expertise, but she didn’t have room in her brain to worry about that just then. She glanced at her watch anxiously as she picked up Charlie’s plates and dumped them in the soapy water. Edward would be here soon! She was just grateful that Charlie couldn’t hear the frantic pace at which her heart beat.
“No worries, dad,” she said, clearly distracted. She was lucky that Charlie was much like her - he didn’t linger, he didn’t question, he just let her be. Most of the time. She was glad to do the cooking and the washing up, in fact, it worked to distract her just enough to stop her from going completely mad. She knew that she had to tell him that she and Edward were an item before he arrived, but how did you bring that up?
Uh, Dad, I’m going out with someone from school. It’s Edward… Dad, by the way, I’m going on a date tonight, he’ll be here in ten minutes… Dad, there’s someone I’d like you to meet…
Hundreds of different combinations of words flew around her head as she washed up, thrashing the dishes with the cloth and then banging them into the drying rack. It was fortunate that they didn’t use bone china, or it would have lain in pieces on the draining board. She had just pulled the plug out of the basin of water when she was distracted by Charlie’s awkward question. She smiled at him with genuine affection, she understood that uncomfortable small talk thing, it was a characteristic she shared with him. She shrugged a little in response to him.
“The usual, I went out with a friend and…” she took a deep breath, suddenly staring at her father, a blush steadily rising on her cheeks. “It was one of the Cullen kids… he took me to his place and we… uh… we decided to go on a date tonight and he really wants to meet you properly and-”
She cut herself off, her breath abruptly run out, and watched her father closely.
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Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Jan 7, 2009 0:25:16 GMT -5
[yup, right before the ball game ] Charlie only glanced once or twice towards the sink as Bella cleared up. She was making a bit of a clatter and was surprised she hadn't dropped anything yet. He had learned very quickly that his daughter was a walking disaster. He had never been anything near graceful himself, but she was just something beyond what he'd ever seen. He would have already shot himself in the foot and handcuffed himself to his steering wheel with her kind of luck. His suspicions were confirmed when she barely looked at him when he asked about her day, followed by a flush of color. This sent a spark of panic flow through Charlie. As if the parenting stuff wasn't complex enough, it was hard to predict and deal when she had reactions he wasn't too familiar with.
As she rushed through the events of her day, he almost didn't catch the part that involved the word 'date'. Charlie froze in his spot, his own color rising from the awkward situation he'd walked himself into. "Cullen boy?" he said looked up a her incredulously. That didn't sound right. That boy was huge. Before he spurted something that resulted in an argument, he paused before continuing. "Isn't he way too old for you?" he asked, not quite able to keep the gruff tone out of his voice.
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Post by Bella Swan on Jan 9, 2009 22:43:03 GMT -5
Bella watched her father carefully for his response to her ill-put words. Internally, she cursed her lack of grace in small talk, or general talk, she wished she had Edward’s suave manner, but she knew that had probably come with long age, a product of the past. She put her back to the basin and the rack of drying plates, giving Charlie her full attention. It was clear as day that she was not comfortable talking about this kind of thing to her father, her mother, maybe, over the phone and a berth of four states would be fine. But in this tiny, claustrophobic kitchen filled with reminders of her father’s chequered past with love, she couldn’t feel more uncomfortable.
She inhaled a little too sharply as Charlie responded in an incredulous manner, but the irritation she felt at him automatically brushing off Edward as an appropriate date at least managed to dislodge some of the incapacitating embarrassment. It did nothing for her colour though. She stepped forward, jerking her arm back to keep her awkward balance and sent it flying into the rack of dishes. She cringed a little as one of them cracked against the basin, but she didn’t turn to check on it.
“Dad, he’s a junior,” she told him, in quite a deadpan tone, wondering if he had forgotten what year she was in. Or, more likely, had leapt to the wrong conclusion about which Cullen boy she meant. “Edward, both Edward and I are juniors. We’re the same age.”
Her blush fired up as she finished talking, she couldn’t have told a bigger lie.
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Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Jan 10, 2009 23:52:45 GMT -5
This was the sort of thing he had been afraid of. He knew his girl was a smart and quiet, and wasn't expecting too much trouble, but he might have held his expectations too high if he thought he would be able to avoid the whole boy thing. Renee should have been around to deal with stuff like this; Charlie had no idea what to do. He saw his daughter turn to him and brave the awkwardness of the conversation, quickly retorting his first protest. The same year? That kid was not her age, he looked like he should have been in college. He wasn't sure what Dr. and Mrs. Cullen was feeding him, but apparently he'd taken to it well.
He tried to remember the other two Cullen boys, and knew they were all in school, but couldn't quite which one was which. "Wait..." he said picturing the three boys. "Which one is Edwin?" Regardless of what her answer was, he still did not like the idea of her going out on a date on such short notice. He had actually recently asked her about this stuff for the very purpose to not be caught off guard as he was now. "I thought you didn't like any boys in town," he said, remembering that conversation to the T mostly because it had been so recent.
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Post by Bella Swan on Jan 12, 2009 16:28:51 GMT -5
After a few moments, Bella’s elbow began to feel the results of knocking into the stack of plates - nothing too bad, more annoying - and as such, she reached her other hand around to rub it a little. However, as she registered her father’s confused expression and then heard his words, another flare of teenage rebellion surged through her system. Edward, how could he not remember the name? It infuriated her, but she knew the emotion was there to replace the intolerable nervousness, so she tried to cool her temper before she responded.
“Edward, dad,” she reminded him, stressing the latter half of his name to try to make it stick in Charlie’s brain. How embarrassing would it be if Edward came in and he got called ’Edwin’ the whole time? She bristled slightly at Charlie’s recollection of their earlier conversation - did he really have to pick now to be the attentive father figure? She bit her lip, trying to get out of it. “Technically the Cullens don’t live in town.”
She lifted a side of her mouth in an unsure smile, though she knew that it was a pathetic excuse for not mentioning him earlier. In an attempt to distract her father from the white lie/desperate excuse she had come up with, she worked on answering his first question.
“Edward is the youngest boy,” she told him, her voice slightly rushed as she attempted to cover her last response. “You know, the one with the,” perfect “big hair, kinda tall, but not as tall or as big as Emmett…”
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Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Jan 13, 2009 22:19:16 GMT -5
Charlie saw his daughter squirm just a little under his questioning, as if she were a suspect at the station, or the night she looked a bit jumpy and he had to check her bedroom to see if she was still there in the middle of the night. Though he found her asleep, he still thought that her behavior had been a bit off. This only made him squirm a bit himself; he hadn't expected to have this conversation with her so soon. He watched her control her expression, swallow down a bit of what looked like a Charlie-like temper flare, before retorting his comment. He smirked a little at her cheek, grumbling softly but reminded of her smarts.
When she described the right Cullen, he quickly remembered the boy he'd seen at the hospital when Bella had almost been crushed by the Crowley boy's van. It kind of made him feel better that it wasn't the huge brawny kid that didn't quite look like a kid anymore. "The one that pushed you out of the van's way, huh?" he asked, keeping his eyes on his triggering mechanism, letting her answer without looking at her. He wondered if this had anything to do with her being grateful for saving her life. Not that he could blame her, but if this was the only reason, he was gonna let her figure it out on her own. She was a smart girl.
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Post by Bella Swan on Jan 14, 2009 21:46:37 GMT -5
Bella faced her father without fearing his retort, or that she would get into trouble, she had caught his little smirk at her own response. He may grumble all he wants, but she thought that he liked to be reminded that they were so alike, when it came down to it. She nodded a little, her throat dry, as he indicated the right Cullen. She didn’t even know how he could think that she was dating Emmett. She had thought news travelled quickly around the small town of Forks, and had been sure that Charlie would have known that the eldest Cullens were dating. Then again, seen as everyone pretty much kept their distance from the family, it shouldn’t surprise her that everyone knew they were all dating, but most couldn’t tell one from the other.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” she paused, biting her lip, her brown eyes watching Charlie look at his gun. Did he really have to be doing that now? Even if the shot didn’t hurt Edward, it would be a whole lot of explaining and… not that she thought her father would shoot her boyfriend, but accidents happened - especially when she was around! She sighed a little, remembering the trouble that stupid crash had caused at school with Tyler and everything. “I try not to dwell on that,” she told him, her tone dry and then a little pitchy as she built up to the next part of her little speech. “Dad, he’s going to be here in a few minutes. So, please, be nice.”
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Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Jan 27, 2009 0:45:45 GMT -5
Charlie thought silently on the boy he'd met at the hospital. Good looking kid, like the Doctor. He'd never had any trouble from the Cullens in the two years they've been around. He'd been so used to hearing stories of trouble-making fosters and such, he had been prepared to keep an eye out for the newest residents of his Town. But he'd never heard anything about them other than that they were smart, quiet kids that kept to themselves. The only complaints had been from Billy, and well... they haven't spoken since.
He looked up to look at Bella when she referred to the almost-accident with Tyler, to see if she really was ok. She sounded like it at least, and she seemed to have forgotten it almost right away. She continued along her silent way as she had done before then, and didn't have much to say. So, Charlie didn't miss the change in tone of her voice when she mentioned that the Cullen boy was to arrive soon. She didn't get too worked up about much, but this apparently had her on edge. He quickly looked away and back at his task, which was almost complete. He saw no way around or out of meeting the kid, and at least he had come to him before he'd have to hunt him down first. "Alright," he said calmly, cocking the shotgun back in place in one swift movement, "I'll be in the living room."
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Post by Edward Cullen on Jan 28, 2009 23:06:55 GMT -5
Edward had been outside for awhile. He had wanted to make sure he was early, but also didn't want to knock and interupt Bella. He had the feeling she'd be waiting until the last minute to tell her father of her date with him today. Hopefully she was planning to tell him before Edward eventually knocked at the door and had to explain the situation himself. He did want to meet her father properly and had insisted on it to Bella. The way that he was raised it was what a gentleman did when taking out a lady. He didnt think it was an act that should cease over time. It was a sign of respect and hopefully Charlie would see it that way.
Edward had been standing outside the door for most of the conversation. While he couldn't read Bella's thoughts, his hearing was good enough to hear through the door and know what was going on. He wouldn't interupt them just now. He heard the confusion in Charlie's voice as he tried to figure out which Cullen was taking out Bella. He also heard Bella tell her father how he had taken her to his place and they had as she had put it "uhh" which he could only assume in a father's mind would sound bad. True they were at his place, but taking a woman back to his place sounded inappropriate and he hoped it wouldnt give Charlie a bad impression of him.
Finally it appeared that the two were done talking and Charlie was agreeable to meeting him. He heard the distinctive clicking of a shot gun and knew that couldnt be good. While Edward knew it wouldnt actually do him any harm, he didn't want Charlie to be thinking he needed to protect his daughter from Edward, even if that probably would be the safest thing for him to do. He gave them both a few more minutes to gather themselves before knocking lightly on the door.
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Post by Bella Swan on Feb 10, 2009 19:04:22 GMT -5
“Thanks, Dad,” Bella said, gratefully as Charlie eventually agreed to be nice. Either that or he was just assenting that he had a few minutes left before Edward was here. She really hoped that it was the former, especially when she heard the ominously audible clanks of the gun as it was put back into place. She would really much prefer it if they could have this meeting later, maybe in about ten years time, or better, fifty. Her brown eyes followed him as he made his way through to the living room and she leapt down to the table, throwing the cleaning paraphernalia into the cupboard. As she righted herself again she heard a light knock at the door and instantly became intensely excited and nervous.
She attempted to walk serenely from the kitchen, through the living room to the front door, but there was little calm left in her as she considered what the meeting threatened. She slowed as she passed Charlie’s chair, catching his eye to give him a meaningful look. She knew that anything she said now Edward would hear, but there was an advantage in the fact that he couldn’t read her mind. Then again he would be able to see the look she gave Charlie from his mind, wouldn’t he? Is that how it worked? She wasn’t sure, either way, and so she made do with wandering to the door as quickly as someone with her coordination dared.
“Edward!” she greeted as she pulled the door open, automatically stepping forward with her arms outstretched to him. She knew that she was supposed to be allowing him to come in to see Charlie, but a cheeky hug couldn’t hurt. An embrace from Edward Cullen could never hurt her; she thought she would enjoy it even if he used his full strength. That was probably a little weird, just like her head, and he liked that, so maybe it was a good thing.
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Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Feb 24, 2009 2:53:57 GMT -5
Having taken his usual seat in the living room, Charlie now took to polishing the exterior of his gun until the boy walked in. He figured it wouldn't hurt to give him an eyeful before he took his daughter out. He had missed out on a major part of the parenting thing, he figured he could overdo it a little here and there while she was living with him. He caught Bella's eye as she walked past him, seeing the silent warning she'd given him, and put up one hand up in innocent surrender to her request. He would play nice if he had to. As Bella paced to the door, Charlie vaguely compared the look he'd seen on her face to one exactly like it he'd seen on Renee. He wondered how she'd be handling this, but figured it probably included bouncing about.
Taking the cleaner rag he had on hand from his little cleaning task, he wiped his hand and heard Bella call out the boy's name. His gut noticed the pleasure she obviously felt in seeing him, and at that moment he realize how bored or dissatisfied she must have felt before meeting him. She'd only been here a few months, but Charlie had never heard her sound so excited before. He stared at his hands for a second, feeling a familiar sensation he'd felt when Renee had left Forks so many years ago. It was something along the lines of inadequacy and failure. As a general rule, Charlie tried not to think of things he couldn't control. He quickly snapped out of it and fixed his face to a more neutral expression with a shade of suspicion, facing the entry to the living room where his daughter's boyfriend would walk through.
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Post by Edward Cullen on Apr 7, 2009 17:40:45 GMT -5
As Edward waited outside the Swan residence for Bella to answer the door, he pulled on a pair of winter gloves. Luckily Forks was cold enough year round that it wouldn’t seem odd that if someone was spending the afternoon outside that they might wear gloves. With the gloves on stood patiently by the door. It wasn’t long before Bella answered. Her scent hit him the instead the door opened, but surprisingly enough his nerves over making a good impression with her father outweighed his current thirst. Luckily vampires didn’t really show their nerves.
“Bella…” He smiled at her greeting Bella with the hug she had requested from him. He gave a look up as they hugged, to see if Charlie was watching, not wanting to look too physical with his daughter in front of him. He saw that Charlie had his gun out and was polishing it. He couldn’t help but smile lightly seeing how protective the man was. If he was a normal teenage boy, he probably would have been a little scared of seeing her armed father when he arrived to pick up Bella. Instead Edward respected the man for trying. It wasn’t his fault that bullets wouldn’t do anything to him. Edward pulled back from the hug before it lasted too long.
He leaned down and whispered “It’ll be okay” to her before straightening up and walking into the living room to introduce himself to Charlie. “Chief Swan…I wanted to formally introduce myself. I’m Edward Cullen”
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Post by Bella Swan on May 20, 2009 12:29:59 GMT -5
As soon as she was encompassed in Edward’s cool arms, half of Bella’s nerves about this meeting were instantly squashed. Only half, though, she still knew that her father sat just metres away with that gun of his, no doubt trying to make an impression. Even though she knew that the gun could do no damage to Edward, it would still be mortifying if something happened, it was bad enough it was there. What did he really expect to happen between them that would warrant the use of a shotgun on a teenage boy? Okay, so Edward just happened to be a vampire, but Charlie didn’t know that!
“I know,” she whispered back into his shoulder at the end of the hug, disappointed that the contact had to be so short, but, all things considered, that was probably a good thing. It was nothing unusual for her to be disappointed when a hug or kiss ended, she would be happy if they lasted forever – he was really all she needed now.
In a slow motion, Bella turned to close the door behind Edward as he entered and walked through to the living room behind him. Her serious brown eyes flicked from the back of her boyfriend and her father, trying to see how this initial contact was going. She lingered as the two exchanged their first words, wondering how long they were going to have to stay here and hoping fervently that Charlie would leave off any stupid questions.
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Charlie Swan
New to Town
Human, Chief of Police
Wait? Which one is Edwin?
Posts: 9
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Post by Charlie Swan on Nov 1, 2009 23:01:32 GMT -5
Tempted to lean in and try to hear the words that were being exchanged in the next room, Charlie immediately decided that he didn't want to know. This was already strange and oddly uncomfortable, he didn't want to know what was being said under their breath. Instead he took a few seconds to balance his gun against the small lamp table next to his chair before standing up, just as Edward entered the room. Again, even he was struck at how good-looking the young kid was, and could remember some of the younger girls he's see at the shopping center gossiping about him, sometimes the other boys too. The Cullen and Hale girls, always made a few eyes go soft. Charlie's mind shortly lingered on how striking they all were. He snapped back to the present when the boy spoke, and he remembered exactly what was happening.
Either Dr. Cullen was an exceptional father, or this Edward kid knew what to say to an adult in a situation like this. It was surprisingly proper and old fashioned, and provoked Charlie's suspicion just a bit. Charlie had a few slightly intimidating things to tell the boy, but the pair of chocolate eyes, flickered back and forth between the two of them, making him try his best to behave. "Charlie," he corrected, never accepting too much formality when unnecessary. He held out his hand for the boy to take, offering as best he could a good start. He glanced at his daughter with a bit of a questioning look, as if asking if this was ok. "Nice to meet you Edward."
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