Supernatural Backup
Title: Supernatural Backup
Author: quicksilvermad
Fandom(s): The Twilight Series
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1532
Inspiration: New Moon: Chapter 17 - Visitor
Warnings: F-bomb
Summary: Ties in with "Unwanted Visitor". Charlie goes to Harry Clearwater's funeral and gets some help from Leah to scare off Alice.
In the hallway outside his daughter's hospital room, Charlie Swan took a deep breath and pulled out his cell phone. He called Sue first to let her know he might be a little late to Harry's funeral and explained why.
He called Leah after that to ask her if she wanted him to pick her up on his way to the service. She agreed and, before he could ask her, said she wasn't going to help him with his tie "so don't even bother with one-Dad said they made you look like you were choking anyway."
He called Renée and told her about Bella's re-hospitalization and suicide attempt. The call was shorter than he would have liked and he grew angry when his ex-wife said Bella needed to "stop being so over-dramatic." His training allowed him to treat her irrational outburst like someone trying to shout her way out of a speeding ticket. Charlie calmly waited her out, gave her the number Bella could be reached at in the hospital, and finally finished with his calls.
The day wore on. Charlie stayed focused on each moment as it happened-the feel of Leah Clearwater as she pulled him against her side during the burial and Sue's hand on his forearm from the opposite side, a hushed conversation with Jacob Black about Bella and how Charlie was glad he'd been there to help when she jumped, and at the wake he had a serious discussion with Billy about someone Charlie had pushed from his mind since mid-morning.
"Alice Cullen was in my house last night. I'm assuming she's holed up in Carlisle's old property right now. We haven't had an 'animal attack,'" he waggled his fingers in the air like quotation marks, "call at the station yet, but I gotta tell you she worries me."
Billy frowned. "Only one of them came back?"
Charlie shrugged and fiddled with the cuff of his shirt. "That I know of. The two I've always worried about the least have been in Alaska since they 'graduated' last summer."
"Sam stepped up patrols since the last attack," Billy said.
"I know. Bella came up to me and said that giant wolves might be responsible. Sam's a little sloppy when it comes to the whole secrecy thing."
"Still, Charlie-"
"I know, Billy. I'm going to make sure she leaves before tonight, okay?"
Billy glanced around the room and nodded. "Take Leah with you."
"She hasn't-"
"It was a couple nights back. Seth, too. She's adapting faster than the boys, that's why I want her to go with you. Even Jacob is still having problems."
Charlie sighed and agreed to take what he called "supernatural back up" to the Cullen's house.
Looking at her now knowing what she'd been through in the past few nights, Charlie could see the subtle change in her posture and attitude. The haircut was striking, but not out of character for her. The angrier-than-usual glares at Sam, however, weren't subtle at all. According to Billy the pack had a mental connection, and Charlie didn't think being mentally connected to an ex-boyfriend would be an easy experience.
"Hey, Charlie," she smiled a little sadly as he walked up to her and Seth.
"Hey, Leah. Could you hear that back there?" he jerked his thumb in Billy's general direction.
"Some of it. There's a leech in town?"
"I need your help scaring her off."
Leah's smile brightened.
"Don't get too excited. I'm gonna do the whole 'this is my town' sheriff bit, let her know that I know what she is, and then you can mention that the land under the treaty's protection is expanding."
"It is?" Seth asked
"It's a bluff, but not unfeasible. Harry and I talked about it a while back when they first left."
Charlie checked his watch. "We should go now before it gets too close to nightfall."
Leah agreed and as they left the house together she gave him a look that he had a hard time interpreting.
"What?"
"How'd you know?" she asked.
"I'm a cop," Charlie explained. "I see more than people think I do. And once you sign off on a third autopsy report that mentions exsanguination from a single wound," he paused and opened the trunk of his cruiser, "you start thinking outside the box."
Leah shrugged. "Makes sense. But the wolf thing?"
Charlie shrugged out of his blazer and grabbed a shoulder holster rig and a windbreaker out of the trunk. "Billy explained it when I shared my vampire theory with him."
He buckled the rig on tight and unlocked his snub nose 38. He stared at it for a moment. "Should I load it?" he asked.
"I would," said Leah from the passenger's seat.
Charlie dug out five bullets from the lock box and loaded up the Colt Detective Special. "Not like it would do any good against her," he muttered.
Leah watched him from the rear view mirror as he slammed the trunk and put on the windbreaker. His normal stride changed to the authoritative 'man-on-a-mission' gait as he walked to the driver's side.
"A gun might freak her out for a second. And that would be long enough for me to, well..."
Charlie started the engine and glanced over at the young woman as she struggled to come up with a proper term for her shape-shifting. "Would the shot ricochet?" he asked to distract her.
"No," Leah answered. "At least I don't think it would."
She watched him nod and decided to mentally map the surrounding woods as they left the Rez and drove for about two miles before Charlie made the turn off the main road. The Cullen home reminded Leah of one of those English countryside estates that they used in period films. It was cut off from the rest of the world and looked like it fell out of the sky.
Charlie pulled up behind the Mercedes in the driveway, turned on the light bar, and pulled the emergency brake. In the time Leah had turned away to watch the lay of the land, Charlie Swan had let his anger from the previous night resurface and fed it with the memory of Alice Cullen's self-righteous little attitude.
Leah followed him to the front door and Charlie bypassed the doorbell in favor of bashing his fist against the doorframe.
"Police, open up!"
They only had to wait a few seconds for the door to ease open and reveal the tiny little vampire. She let the pair of them walk inside and moved to close the door behind Leah-
The taller woman shook her head. "Leave it open. We're not going to be here long."
Alice frowned and looked a bit confused. "Why didn't I see either of you coming?" she whispered.
It was too low for Charlie to hear. "You need to leave town before morning," he said.
"Excuse me?"
Leah took up a similar 'law enforcement officer' stance next to Charlie an glared down at Alice. "The Quileute treaty is expanding beyond the current boundaries because of recent activities. If you don't leave, I'll be forced to grind you into dust," she said.
Alice's nose wrinkled up. "You're one of the dogs!" she whirled on Charlie. "And you've known all this time that-"
Charlie drew the 38 and Leah growled. "We're serious, Alice. If you leave now and don't come back we won't have a problem."
"Edward thinks Bella's dead-he's going to kill himself if I don't bring her to him."
"Then fucking call him," Leah snapped. "Just get out of Forks."
Charlie had latched on to that last bit of Alice's outburst and was still shaking his head from side to side. "You were going to kidnap my daughter and drag her off to God knows where? You really were, weren't you? You looked me in the eye and rattled off all that bullshit about being concerned for Bella when you really needed her to serve your own purpose."
Alice looked shocked.
"You lied. This whole trip back here isn't for Bella's sake or Edward's. You want your fake family all under one roof again so you can make them play house for you," Charlie lowered the gun. "Don't think I didn't notice how you treat my daughter like a doll."
"I... I just want them to be happy again. Is that so bad?"
Leah snorted. "From what Charlie's told me, your being here at all makes things worse."
"And you need to leave. If you aren't gone by morning and I get another 'animal attack' report on my desk, I'm sending Leah here after you. I don't care if you did it or not, And if you even think about taking my daughter with you anywhere, I will call Leah."
Alice stilled and held her breath. Whether it was out of anger or because she couldn't stand the "dog smell," Charlie didn't care. He touched Leah's elbow and started walking out the front door with her.
The short vampire was still standing in the middle of the foyer when they pulled out of the driveway and left her.
Charlie turned off the light bar once they were back on the main road.
Halfway into town, Charlie let out a huge sigh. "I need a beer," he grumbled. "You want a beer, Leah?"
She covered his hand with hers and squeezed gently. "Yeah," she agreed. "I could do with a beer."
Charlie's shoulders finally dropped from the tensed-up position he'd been in all day and he headed home.
Author: quicksilvermad
Fandom(s): The Twilight Series
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1532
Inspiration: New Moon: Chapter 17 - Visitor
Warnings: F-bomb
Summary: Ties in with "Unwanted Visitor". Charlie goes to Harry Clearwater's funeral and gets some help from Leah to scare off Alice.
In the hallway outside his daughter's hospital room, Charlie Swan took a deep breath and pulled out his cell phone. He called Sue first to let her know he might be a little late to Harry's funeral and explained why.
He called Leah after that to ask her if she wanted him to pick her up on his way to the service. She agreed and, before he could ask her, said she wasn't going to help him with his tie "so don't even bother with one-Dad said they made you look like you were choking anyway."
He called Renée and told her about Bella's re-hospitalization and suicide attempt. The call was shorter than he would have liked and he grew angry when his ex-wife said Bella needed to "stop being so over-dramatic." His training allowed him to treat her irrational outburst like someone trying to shout her way out of a speeding ticket. Charlie calmly waited her out, gave her the number Bella could be reached at in the hospital, and finally finished with his calls.
The day wore on. Charlie stayed focused on each moment as it happened-the feel of Leah Clearwater as she pulled him against her side during the burial and Sue's hand on his forearm from the opposite side, a hushed conversation with Jacob Black about Bella and how Charlie was glad he'd been there to help when she jumped, and at the wake he had a serious discussion with Billy about someone Charlie had pushed from his mind since mid-morning.
"Alice Cullen was in my house last night. I'm assuming she's holed up in Carlisle's old property right now. We haven't had an 'animal attack,'" he waggled his fingers in the air like quotation marks, "call at the station yet, but I gotta tell you she worries me."
Billy frowned. "Only one of them came back?"
Charlie shrugged and fiddled with the cuff of his shirt. "That I know of. The two I've always worried about the least have been in Alaska since they 'graduated' last summer."
"Sam stepped up patrols since the last attack," Billy said.
"I know. Bella came up to me and said that giant wolves might be responsible. Sam's a little sloppy when it comes to the whole secrecy thing."
"Still, Charlie-"
"I know, Billy. I'm going to make sure she leaves before tonight, okay?"
Billy glanced around the room and nodded. "Take Leah with you."
"She hasn't-"
"It was a couple nights back. Seth, too. She's adapting faster than the boys, that's why I want her to go with you. Even Jacob is still having problems."
Charlie sighed and agreed to take what he called "supernatural back up" to the Cullen's house.
Looking at her now knowing what she'd been through in the past few nights, Charlie could see the subtle change in her posture and attitude. The haircut was striking, but not out of character for her. The angrier-than-usual glares at Sam, however, weren't subtle at all. According to Billy the pack had a mental connection, and Charlie didn't think being mentally connected to an ex-boyfriend would be an easy experience.
"Hey, Charlie," she smiled a little sadly as he walked up to her and Seth.
"Hey, Leah. Could you hear that back there?" he jerked his thumb in Billy's general direction.
"Some of it. There's a leech in town?"
"I need your help scaring her off."
Leah's smile brightened.
"Don't get too excited. I'm gonna do the whole 'this is my town' sheriff bit, let her know that I know what she is, and then you can mention that the land under the treaty's protection is expanding."
"It is?" Seth asked
"It's a bluff, but not unfeasible. Harry and I talked about it a while back when they first left."
Charlie checked his watch. "We should go now before it gets too close to nightfall."
Leah agreed and as they left the house together she gave him a look that he had a hard time interpreting.
"What?"
"How'd you know?" she asked.
"I'm a cop," Charlie explained. "I see more than people think I do. And once you sign off on a third autopsy report that mentions exsanguination from a single wound," he paused and opened the trunk of his cruiser, "you start thinking outside the box."
Leah shrugged. "Makes sense. But the wolf thing?"
Charlie shrugged out of his blazer and grabbed a shoulder holster rig and a windbreaker out of the trunk. "Billy explained it when I shared my vampire theory with him."
He buckled the rig on tight and unlocked his snub nose 38. He stared at it for a moment. "Should I load it?" he asked.
"I would," said Leah from the passenger's seat.
Charlie dug out five bullets from the lock box and loaded up the Colt Detective Special. "Not like it would do any good against her," he muttered.
Leah watched him from the rear view mirror as he slammed the trunk and put on the windbreaker. His normal stride changed to the authoritative 'man-on-a-mission' gait as he walked to the driver's side.
"A gun might freak her out for a second. And that would be long enough for me to, well..."
Charlie started the engine and glanced over at the young woman as she struggled to come up with a proper term for her shape-shifting. "Would the shot ricochet?" he asked to distract her.
"No," Leah answered. "At least I don't think it would."
She watched him nod and decided to mentally map the surrounding woods as they left the Rez and drove for about two miles before Charlie made the turn off the main road. The Cullen home reminded Leah of one of those English countryside estates that they used in period films. It was cut off from the rest of the world and looked like it fell out of the sky.
Charlie pulled up behind the Mercedes in the driveway, turned on the light bar, and pulled the emergency brake. In the time Leah had turned away to watch the lay of the land, Charlie Swan had let his anger from the previous night resurface and fed it with the memory of Alice Cullen's self-righteous little attitude.
Leah followed him to the front door and Charlie bypassed the doorbell in favor of bashing his fist against the doorframe.
"Police, open up!"
They only had to wait a few seconds for the door to ease open and reveal the tiny little vampire. She let the pair of them walk inside and moved to close the door behind Leah-
The taller woman shook her head. "Leave it open. We're not going to be here long."
Alice frowned and looked a bit confused. "Why didn't I see either of you coming?" she whispered.
It was too low for Charlie to hear. "You need to leave town before morning," he said.
"Excuse me?"
Leah took up a similar 'law enforcement officer' stance next to Charlie an glared down at Alice. "The Quileute treaty is expanding beyond the current boundaries because of recent activities. If you don't leave, I'll be forced to grind you into dust," she said.
Alice's nose wrinkled up. "You're one of the dogs!" she whirled on Charlie. "And you've known all this time that-"
Charlie drew the 38 and Leah growled. "We're serious, Alice. If you leave now and don't come back we won't have a problem."
"Edward thinks Bella's dead-he's going to kill himself if I don't bring her to him."
"Then fucking call him," Leah snapped. "Just get out of Forks."
Charlie had latched on to that last bit of Alice's outburst and was still shaking his head from side to side. "You were going to kidnap my daughter and drag her off to God knows where? You really were, weren't you? You looked me in the eye and rattled off all that bullshit about being concerned for Bella when you really needed her to serve your own purpose."
Alice looked shocked.
"You lied. This whole trip back here isn't for Bella's sake or Edward's. You want your fake family all under one roof again so you can make them play house for you," Charlie lowered the gun. "Don't think I didn't notice how you treat my daughter like a doll."
"I... I just want them to be happy again. Is that so bad?"
Leah snorted. "From what Charlie's told me, your being here at all makes things worse."
"And you need to leave. If you aren't gone by morning and I get another 'animal attack' report on my desk, I'm sending Leah here after you. I don't care if you did it or not, And if you even think about taking my daughter with you anywhere, I will call Leah."
Alice stilled and held her breath. Whether it was out of anger or because she couldn't stand the "dog smell," Charlie didn't care. He touched Leah's elbow and started walking out the front door with her.
The short vampire was still standing in the middle of the foyer when they pulled out of the driveway and left her.
Charlie turned off the light bar once they were back on the main road.
Halfway into town, Charlie let out a huge sigh. "I need a beer," he grumbled. "You want a beer, Leah?"
She covered his hand with hers and squeezed gently. "Yeah," she agreed. "I could do with a beer."
Charlie's shoulders finally dropped from the tensed-up position he'd been in all day and he headed home.