A/N: This
outtake appeared in the Fandom Fights Hurricane Sandy compilation. It's
meant to be
humorous, with a few specks of seriousness added in here
and there.
Characters belong to SM. People, places, and things all belong to their rightful owners. What
happens to these two is all on me.
Charlie's POV
I
stared at my gun belt for what seemed like forever, deciding whether I
wanted to bring it on today's
outing. I hadn't worn it in years, but
then again a situation warranting its use hadn't arose either.
Until now.
My
daughter had a knack for picking not-so-great men to get involved with.
In fact, my mind
contained a whole arsenal of memories surrounding her
poor romantic decisions…
May 16, 1998. Bella was finishing up
her sophomore year of high school, but low and behold some
arrogant
senior by the name of Brandon Johnson asked her to accompany him to the
prom. Bella
was filled with excitement, mostly because she'd never been
asked to any type of dance before. Renee
was over-the-top because the
young man was quarterback of the football team and ran with the
social
circle she always wished Bella would run with. Meanwhile, I was
disgusted by the fact that my
little girl was old enough to date, and
irritated with her and her mother's excitement.
The night
of the dance, Bella brought him into the living room for a formal
introduction. "Dad, this
is Brandon Johnson. Brandon, please meet my dad
Charlie Swan." He gave me an arrogant smirk
and attempted to shake my
hand. Instead of accepting his greeting, I pulled back my flannel shirt,
revealing my Glock G22 .40 nestled snugly in a shoulder holster.
"Bella's
curfew is eleven. No drugs, no drinking, and none of that other stupid
shit that teenagers
do." I leveled him with a hard stare. "Prom may be
in Port Angeles, but don't for a minute think I
don't know what's going
on in this half of the Olympic Peninsula."
"Y-y-yes s-sir,"
he stuttered out, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at
his feet. I
smiled in satisfaction and sank back into my recliner,
propping my feet up on the ottoman and
turning my attention back to the
Mariners game.
"Thanks a lot dad," Bella hissed, looping her arm though Brandon's and leading him out the front
door.
Five
hours later, Brandon's true colors came out and his best friend
revealed that Brandon had
made a bet with some of the other football
players that he could bed the police chief's daughter on
prom night.
By
the time Renee and I got there to pick Bella up, her date was three
sheets to the wind, wearing
only his underwear and hanging off the
balcony of the hotel room he'd brought her back to.
Needless to say he
was arrested, and that was the last any of us heard of him.
…
June
21, 2003. Bella was back in Forks for the weekend with her boyfriend,
Seth Anderson. I had to
hand it to her, Seth was a nice guy and he
seemed to have his head on straight. I tried not to dwell
too much on
the fact that he was from Wisconsin (I despised their football team and
their beer), or
that sometimes he'd slip his hand in the back pocket of
Bella's jeans like he was claiming his
territory. She was twenty-one now
and nothing her mother or I said was going to stop her from
behaving in
ways we preferred she didn't.
Seth was always polite to
both Renee and me, but there was just something about him that made me
question how serious he was regarding his relationship with Bella. When
graduation came and
went, and Seth announced he was moving back to
Wisconsin – with or without Bella by his side – I
knew my suspicions
were justified. Rose and Alice guided her through her first big breakup,
and I
crossed my fingers that she'd take a break from dating and focus
on her new life in the city.
…
January 10, 2009. Ben
Nelson was nothing but trouble. I didn't even have to meet him once to
know
this. He was a guitarist for a rock band, had shaggy hair and a
constant beard, and decorated his
skin with tattoos that made no sense
to anyone.
Bella didn't see it that way, however. To her,
he hung the moon and stars, walked on water, and
could do no wrong.
Female attention followed him wherever he went, and even though she
pretended like it didn't bother her, annoyance was always evident in her
features.
Renee and I were at the Thriftway when we got
the call. Our daughter was in tears once again, this
time because Ben's
band got a record deal that would require them to relocate to Chicago.
Bella
was considering making the move, but wasn't sure what to do. Her
life was in Manhattan, her
business was in Manhattan, and she didn't
want to leave all of that behind. On the other hand, she
didn't want to
give up this man she loved either. Renee assured her everything would be
okay in the
end, and fate would work its magic, but in reality nobody
knew what was going to happen.
Two weeks after that call
Ben was gone. He told Bella she could have some time to think about her
options, but took off to Chicago before she could give him a final
answer. His number was changed,
his Facebook was gone, and she never
heard from him again.
…
Ben marked the end of my darling daughter's dating history.
Until
Edward Cullen came along and caught her eye, that is. Renee had been
talking about their
upcoming visit to Forks for weeks. Last night, I
took it upon myself to Google him. Sure, he seemed
nice, and I'd
actually referred to him as "son" on more than one occasion throughout
the evening, but
something just felt off. So, I decided a bit of
investigating was necessary.
What I found was not something a
concerned father would want to see. Simply put, he was a
manwhore. The
guy had dated – and presumably slept with – half of the socialites in
the city, and
probably even a housewife or two from Jersey. He had good
business skills and a brain that was
made for finance, but I couldn't
find any other redeeming qualities in the madness on the web.
When
my wife caught me red handed, she confiscated the laptop and told me to
give Edward a
chance. Apparently his past was no secret – to Bella or
her group of friends – but after spending time
with him and witnessing
his behavior, our daughter was convinced he was in the process of
changing for the better.
He passed my first test by giving me a
strong, self-assured handshake the day before. Now it was
time to lay my
second test on him: seeing whether or not he could survive an afternoon
of steelhead
fishing punctuated by two or three rounds of Charlie Swan
style questioning.
"Hi dad!" Bella wandered into my study, distracting me and planting a kiss on my cheek.
"Afternoon, Bell." I smiled and closed the drawer that housed my gun belt. "Where's Edward?"
"Mom lured him into the kitchen with her rhubarb crisp."
I smirked. "Leave it to your mother to use pastries to her advantage."
"Promise
you won't be too hard on him today, dad," Bella sank into the chair
across from me and
rested her elbows against her knees. "I know you
worry, and I love you for that, but I really, really
like this one."
"And
from what I saw online, he really, really likes schmoozing with the
ladies." I regretted the
comment immediately when I saw how her face
fell. "Aw, Bell, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that.
I just worry
about you, and he doesn't exactly have the cleanest slate back in
Manhattan."
"Everyone's slate gets dirtied up at one point or
another." She looked out the window and sighed. "I
know Edward has made
mistakes – a fair share of them to be totally honest – but I can tell
you, and
so can Alice and Rose, that he's different now. This thing we
have isn't the same as what he's had
with the women you read about on
the internet."
I leaned my chair back, pinching the bridge of my
nose between my fingers and closing my eyes. I
wasn't the type of dad
who sat down and had relationship discussions with his daughter. I'd
always
been content to leave that dirty work for my wife.
There was no point in arguing. "I make no promises, but I'll try to be on my best behavior."
"Thank you," she whispered, reaching out and squeezing my arm appreciatively.
"Well,
let's this started then, shall we?" I stood abruptly, raking my fingers
through my hair and
sliding my hands into my pockets. Displays of
affection made me uncomfortable, even when they
came from family.
Bella led the way to the kitchen, where I found my wife busy playing hostess and flirting up a storm.
"Afternoon, Edward."
"Good afternoon Mr. – I mean, Charlie." Edward offered up a smile that no doubt dazzled both my
wife and daughter.
"There's
a pair of waders and some gear laid out for you in the living room," I
explained. "Go ahead
and change and I'll get everything else ready."
Edward
nodded and headed off. Renee shook her head and gave me a stern glare.
"Charles Swan,
you promised me you'd behave today."
I held my hands up in a gesture of innocence and walked to the fridge. "I am behaving."
"The day isn't over yet."
I
grabbed a large Ziploc bag of prawns and dropped it in the picnic
basket Renee was filling up. "Do
you really think I'd intentionally ruin
a perfectly good afternoon of fishing?"
This time it was Bella who spoke. "Do you really want us to answer that?"
"Does
this look okay?" Edward stepped back in the room, decked out in winter
fly-fishing gear.
Suspicions aside, I had to smile. He looked like a
natural.
"I have to get a picture of this!" Renee disappeared and
returned a moment later with her camera.
"Bella, stand next to Edward."
She snapped a few pictures and then waved her hand at me. "Charlie,
you
get over there too!"
After putting us in three different poses,
Renee finally decided she had enough photos and went back
to assembling
the picnic basket. I watched warily as Edward pulled my daughter close
to him and
planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Prawns, sandwiches, veggie sticks, and a couple cans of Rainier; I think you two should be set."
"Prawns?" Edward narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"I use them for bait," I explained. "They work well for drift fishing, which is what we'll be doing."
"Got it."
I pulled my coat on and gathered up my things. Edward said his goodbyes to Bella and Renee and
followed me out to my truck.
"So,
where does steelhead fishing take place exactly?" Edward gave me a
weary glance. I almost
laughed out loud, but resisted the urge.
"The
Sol Duc River," I explained. "We've got about two hours until sunset. I
have lanterns in the
back of the truck though, so we can stay out
longer."
"You fish at night?"
I nodded. "Sometimes, but not too often. I prefer to get an early start. Renee makes a mean fish fry
dinner."
Edward
smiled at that comment, then turned his attention to the trees passing
us out the window. We
rode the rest of the way in silence, and the only
sound that punctuated our drive was the steady
thump, thump, thump of the tires against the dirt road.
I parked the truck in my usual spot and hopped out. Edward followed, grabbing the picnic basket
from the seat between us.
"You
can leave this in the truck," I instructed, flipping the lid open and
grabbing the bag of prawns.
"We're going to be in the water and I don't
want to leave it sitting on the shore."
Edward followed my instructions, returning to the back of the truck and staring expectantly at me.
"Put
this on," I said, handing him a vest pack filled with lures, bobbers,
spare line, and other essential
fly-fishing items. Once he had it
securely fastened, I gestured to one of the rods lying on the truck
bed.
"That's yours to use. It's one of my favorite rods, so I'd appreciate
it if you didn't break it."
I watched the color drain from Edward's face as he collected the pole. "You didn't have any old ones
lying around?"
"That
one is old," I remarked, heading off down the well-beaten trail that
led to the riverbank. "I'm
superstitious about my fishing, kid. I never
buy a new rod unless an old one breaks. These two have
been around for
over ten years, and they've given me my fair share of luck while
fishing."
"No pressure," Edward mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"That's another thing you'll need to learn." I came to a stop at the water's edge and turned to face
him. "I hear everything.
Twenty plus years on the force does that to a man. Now, you're right,
there's
no pressure on you, because you're a novice who hasn't set foot
in a river. I don't expect you to cast
the line properly, let alone
catch a damn fish. As long as you don't try to snag my earlobe or do
something stupid, we'll be in good shape today, okay?"
Tiny beads of sweat covered his forehead. "Okay."
"Now,
sit down over here and I'll teach you how to rig up your line." I led
us to a couple of
oversized boulders and plopped down, opening my own
vest pack and pulling out the necessary
equipment: a hook, a weight, a
drift bobber, and a swivel. I showed Edward how to properly hook
everything up to his line, reaching in the bag of prawns and grabbing
one for each of us when the
rods were ready.
"I want you to stand
upriver from me, because God only knows I've learned to never trust a
novice
fisherman." I waded in the water until it was just above my
knees, pointing off to my left so Edward
knew where to stand. Once he
was a good fifteen feet away from me, I raised my rod above my head
and
cast upriver. I watched the prawn disappear into the water and reeled my
line in ever so slightly.
"Should I cast up past yours?" Edward
asked. I nodded. He raised the rod above his own head
before flicking it
forward. His prawn fell exactly where it should, and I gave him a
thumbs up.
"Very nice. Now, reel your line in just a tad and wait."
"How will I know if a fish bit it?"
"Get
a good grip on the rod and pay close attention. Small ticks are normal,
since your bait is drifting
along the bottom of the river." I tugged at
my own line, reeling it in to cast again. "Steelhead bites
feel
different than your average fish bite. The rod won't jerk, but it'll
feel like something is trying to
suck it out of your hands and swallow
it. Does that make sense?"
He scrunched his nose up in confusion and shrugged. "Not really."
This
would make for one great story to tell the guys. "If it feels like the
pole is getting away from
you, just go ahead and reel it back in, okay?"
As
it turned out, those were the wrong instructions to give Edward. While I
tried to enjoy the calm
that accompanied a few hours of drift fishing,
he was busy reeling his line in every two minutes. His
hook got snagged
on his waders more than once, and he almost fell in the river when the
line got
stuck on some rocks and wouldn't reel up.
An hour after
the sun set I decided it was time to call it quits. "How do you feel
about taking a break
and having a sandwich and a beer?"
"Yes,
please," Edward muttered, reeling his line in and making a beeline for
the truck. I chuckled
and reeled my own line in slowly.
"You did good for your first time," I lied when I reached the truck. Edward tugged his hat off and
frowned.
"Don't lie to me, Charlie."
I
doubled over in laughter. "You caught me. That was truly terrible,
Edward. I don't think I've ever
seen such a pitiful drift fishing
performance."
"There's a reason I rarely leave the confines of the city."
I
dropped the tailgate on the truck down and perched myself on the edge.
Edward flipped the lid on
the picnic basket open and grabbed two beers,
handing one to me. I popped the top on mine and took
a big gulp. I had a
few questions I wanted to ask Edward, and now that we were out of the
water it
seemed like the perfect time to do so.
"How many women have you slept with, Edward?"
My
question took him by surprise, as I intended. He leaned forward,
coughing loudly and spewing a
stream of beer out of his nostrils.
"Excuse me?"
"How
many women have you slept with?" I put my sandwich down and held up
three fingers. "I can
count that number off on one hand for myself."
"Uh," he stalled, fidgeting uncomfortably. "With all due respect sir, why are you asking me this? Or
telling me this?"
"Why
am I asking you this?" I slid off the tailgate and spun around, placing
my hands on my hips.
"I'm asking you this because I don't want my
daughter getting involved with a man who will turn her
into nothing more
than a number."
The lantern light was dim, but I could still see
the color drain from Edward's face. "I don't understand
where this is
coming from."
"Let me enlighten you." I ran a hand through my hair
and backed a few feet away from him. "Last
night it dawned on me – my
daughter is dating a man who's both well-known and published. So, I
decided to do a bit of Googling to see exactly what kind of man you are.
Imagine my dismay when
every picture that popped up contained a
different woman. Well, with the exception of recent ones of
you and
Bella."
"Sir, I can explain-" I held my hand up and silenced him.
"I'm
not finished. After I got over my initial shock, I decided to have a
look at some of the articles
that accompanied said pictures." I fixed
him with my known – and locally feared – Charlie Swan
glare. "I can't
count the number of times I saw the phrases 'toxic bachelor' and
'manwhore.' I don't
know how you kids see things these days, but in my
world neither of those is a compliment."
"They aren't compliments in my world either." Edward looked down at his hands.
I
filtered through my limited knowledge bank about this guy, searching
for anything I read the night
before that really stood out. "Why did
Bella throw a drink in your face the first time she met you?"
"Good lord, you really did do your research."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "Well?"
Edward
punched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "She didn't throw her drink
in my face, she
dumped it on my phone. I made a tasteless comment about
her appearance and deserved every bit of
her reaction."
I narrowed my eyes. "A tasteless comment about her appearance? What comment was that?"
Edward's
cheeks and ears turned red as his embarrassment surfaced. "I don't see
how these details
are relevant now. It was three months ago that this
happened."
"Let me explain something to you, Edward." I sat back
down on the truck's tailgate and cracked my
knuckles. "Bella doesn't
always have the best judgment when it comes to deciding whose company
she'll keep. You look good on paper; better than the rest of her
boyfriends have, in fact. You're
educated, you come from a good
family
– or so she's told me – you're established in your field, and you have a
successful career.
Looking good on paper doesn't make a damn bit of a
difference to me, however. We're not returning
to my house until I know
you don't plan on breaking my daughter's heart when you return to the
city
in three weeks."
A mixture of emotions crossed his face
before defeat finally set in. "I told Bella she didn't need to
worry
about being a bitch when she had such nice tits," he admitted. "The only
reason I can give you
for my behavior is that I was a first class
asshole at that time."
"So instead of finding out who she was and
apologizing like a decent man would, you decided to
contact her business
partner and weasel your way onto their client roster?" I jumped up
again, unable
to stop myself from pacing.
All Edward could do was
shrug. "She barely wanted to speak to me as her client. What makes you
think she would have even answered to accept my apology?"
"I don't
think she would have, which is precisely my point. Using manipulation
to start a relationship
doesn't win you points in my book."
Much to my surprise, Edward was quick to correct me. "I didn't initiate our relationship, Charlie.
Bella made the first move."
My eyes widened in shock. "Bella asked you out?"
He
nodded. "I mean, we have joint friends, so we were spending time
together in social situations,
but when it comes to initiating an actual
relationship, that was all on her."
I opened my mouth and closed
it quickly. All the gossip I'd picked through made it seem like
Edward
was the one who pursued my daughter, not the other way around. "Well,
this comes as a
surprise."
"If it makes you feel any better, she made me work for it," Edward explained.
"Well, she is
her mother's daughter." I scratched my chin thoughtfully. Renee and
Bella would kill
me if the details of this conversation ever got back to
then, but I still wasn't reassured when it came to
Edward's intentions.
"How old are you, Edward?"
"31."
"31 and a toxic bachelor? Why is that?"
He frowned. "It's a long story."
"We've got time."
He
looked up at me and sighed. "That's great, but I'm not discussing this.
It's not something I care to
rehash or share with anyone, quite
frankly."
"Have you shared it with Bella?"
"No, I have not."
Edward stood, fisting his hair in his hands and rolling his eyes. "I
get that you're a
protective father, Charlie. I understand that you
don't want to see your daughter get hurt, and you
want her with someone
who will take care of her. All of that makes sense to me. I didn't come
out
here with you to be subjected to some ridiculous round of twenty
questions, however."
"I wouldn't call this ridiculous-"
"It is ridiculous."
When he turned to face me I could see the irritation in his features.
"I feel like I've
been picked up and transported back to high school.
Wanting me to prove myself to you is one thing,
but expecting me to do
it in three hours on a fishing trip is ridiculous."
"I-"
Edward
shook his head. "I need a minute to process all of this." He walked a
few feet away, tugging
more at his hair and kicking the ground. "Fuck!"
I sat back down with a grunt and slumped forward.
For the first time in a very long time I had run out of things to say.
Edward's POV
Charlie's
interrogation threw me off. I knew from talking to Bella that morning
that he'd likely ask
me a few questions, but I wasn't expecting to have
all the sordid details of my shitty past behavior
thrown in my face.
I
was stressing out when he started inquiring about the beginning of our
relationship. I jumped on the
first opportunity I had to tell him that
it was Bella who made the first move by asking me out on a
date. What
Charlie didn't need to know was that Bella and I had slept together the
night before she
asked me out, and I'd spent the next month pursuing her
and trying to make up for my bad behavior.
When the silence
became unbearable, I decided it was time to make some sort of speech.
"Charlie," I
began, turning around slowly and looking at him. "I won't
bother sugarcoating this, because you've
made it quite clear that you're
good at sifting through bullshit. My past is full of mistakes. I've
treated
people like shit, I've made more than one poor decision, and I'm
positive there's at least three hearts
in the city that I'm responsible
for breaking. Bella's presence in my life changed that, however.
"At
the risk of sounding like a total pussy, your daughter brings out
feelings that I haven't felt in
years. Bella makes me want to be better,
for myself and for the other people in my life."
Charlie's eyes met mine and his expression softened. "Do you love her?"
"Yes?
No? Maybe? Hell, I don't know what I'd call this feeling." I glanced
back out at the dark river
in front of us. "What I do know is that I
could never and would never do anything to hurt your
daughter, Charlie.
She means too much to me to dream of doing that."
You better hope he never finds out about that stupid bet.
Charlie
stood, pacing for a moment before coming to a stop in front of me. He
reached out and
clamped his hand down on my shoulder, giving it a rough
squeeze. "Just promise me you'll take care
of her, Edward. New York is
such a big city and I know she's got Rose and Alice, but," Charlie
waved
his hand in the air absentmindedly, "she needs someone who can protect
her. She's never yet
had a boyfriend who's proven he could do that."
I
held Charlie's gaze for as long as I could before looking down at my
hands. I wanted to protect
Bella. I wanted to stay by her side, I wanted
to take care of her, and I wanted to make her happy.
From the looks of
it, Bella – and her parents – wanted this too.
Of course the bet
still hung over my head, much like a bomb ready to go off. But, as long
as Jasper
and Emmett stayed quiet, nobody would ever know.
"I can promise you that, Charlie." I reached my hand out and he shook it, giving me a small smile
and a nod.
"I better get you home to my daughter now. She and Renee are probably wondering what the hell
we're out here doing."
I
helped Charlie load up the back of the truck and climbed in the cab. He
turned up the heat and we
started our journey back to the house.
Bella
was waiting on the porch when we arrived. "How did it go?" she
whispered, slipping her arms
around my neck and pulling my head down for
a kiss.
"The fishing part or the time spent with your dad?" I joked.
"Both."
"The
fishing part was a hoot," Charlie piped in, climbing up the front steps
and leaning against the
railing. "Edward didn't catch a damn thing!
Well, unless you count catching his own waders."
Bella laughed. "So much for looking like a natural."
"Hey,
I can still look like a natural," I argued. "Now, whether or not I can
actually fish like one is an
entirely different story."
"I hear laughter out here." Renee cracked the screen door open and poked her head around it. "I see
Edward made it back alive."
"I
promised he'd make it in one piece." Charlie looked over at me and
winked before turning his
attention back to his wife. "We devoured your
sandwiches. There doesn't happen to be any leftovers
from dinner, does
there?"
Renee smiled. "I told Bella you two would be hungry. There's meatloaf and au gratin potatoes
warming in the oven."
Charlie
kissed his wife's cheek before turning to face Bella and I. "I think
you may have found
yourself a keeper in this one, Bell."
Her answering smile made my heart skip a beat. "I think so too, dad."
When both of her parents were inside, Bella turned and looked up at me. "What did you do to charm
him?"
"We just had … a talk." I had no intention of sharing the sordid details with her.
"He didn't badger you to death, did he?"
Yes! "Nope. He was actually quite pleasant for a cop," I teased.
Bella heaved a sigh and slid her arm around my waist. "You have no idea how relieved I am. I
thought for sure he'd grill you."
If only you knew, sweetheart. I shook my head. "He's probably saving that for the next time we're in
Forks."
"Or when they're in New York," she joked.
I leaned down and kissed her cheek before opening the front door and ushering her inside.
I had successfully passed Charlie Swan's first test – and fuck if it wasn't a hard one.
Watching Bella flit around the kitchen with her mother that night only helped affirm what I already
knew:
No amount of Charlie style interrogations could make me walk away from the good fortune I had so luckily fallen into.
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