Twilight: Parting Clouds

Twilight: Parting Clouds (Chapter 2)

A/n: I know that Charlie and Renee were really young when they had Bella, but for the purposes of this fic Charlie is 25 and Cathy is 23.

Charlie squinted through the rain lashing against the patrol’s windscreen as he pulled off the main road which intersected Port Angeles and turned into the sprawling open air bus depot, anxiously scanning the drenched, wind harried streets for any sign of Cathy Clearwater, but she was nowhere to be seen. Sighing heavily, his brow knitted with concern for Harry’s sake, he climbed out of the car, pulling up the flimsy collar of his police issue raincoat and pushing the brim of his hat over his damp face as he set out on the seemingly inevitable search. If he was completely honest with himself, his mental picture of Cathy wasn’t particularly clear, although to be fair he probably hadn’t seen the girl in over five years, when she’d graduated from her boarding school down in Seattle and had whittled the summer away on the res waiting for her college to start in the fall. Yeah, she must’ve been around with Harry then, but on the other hand, he’d been so wrapped up in Renee at that time he’d had little time for his childhood friends on the reservation, let alone the kid sister of one of them. He gritted his teeth at the thought of Renee; everything always seemed to lead back to her…

The sight of a small figure huddled by the phone booth knocked well worn sorrows and regrets from his mind and he blindly focused on the task at hand, trudging through the huge puddles until he reached the person’s side and touched their arm.

He realised his mistake immediately as the figure jumped with an unnatural violence and a pair of panicky, but intensely beautiful, mahogany eyes stared into his. If he could have kicked himself at that moment he would have, instead an old recollection tugged at him from the back of his mind and he hurriedly clenched his right fist rubbed it against his chest repeatedly in small circles, having to hope that that meant “sorry”.

She relaxed, but only slightly, he could see her gazing warily at his police uniform and had to wonder whether she was in some sort of trouble before her eyes focused directly on his face, confusion and a lack of recognition visible on her own. Quickly he raised the brim of his hat away from his face and her gaze narrowed in disbelief as the shadow was removed from his features. “Charlie? Charlie Swan?” she gasped out, gulping repeatedly as she did so.

It took Charlie a few seconds to respond, so struck was he at the change in her. He’d been expecting the skinny tomboy of a girl he’d known in youth, but this woman bared little resemble to who he remembered, with her petite but full figure, stunning eyes and luxuriant ebony hair. Even soaked to the skin and obviously exhausted, she was still breathtakingly beautiful. “Yeah, Cathy it’s me.” He finally answered her, awkwardly wringing his hands as she stared at him, as if she still didn’t quite believe he was standing in front of her. “I’m sorry I frightened you like that, it was thoughtless of me.” He apologised in embarrassment

Cathy shook her head quickly, shoving a few dripping locks of hair out of her eyes as she did so and looking equally embarrassed. “Oh no, it’s okay…” She muttered, Charlie saw her hands flicker nervously as she spoke, “I’ve had worse than that before.” Like that bus driver, she thought bitterly before again focusing on Charlie, “Why are you here? I thought Harry would…” Her voice trailed off before a wry smile crossed her lips, “Did you transfer to Port Angeles PD or something?”

Charlie gave a dry chuckle. “Me, leave Forks? You must not remember me very well Cathy!” Cathy felt blood rush to her cheeks. You have no idea… She thought ruefully. Charlie, thinking he’d stepped too far, jumped in hurriedly with the explanation he knew she wanted. “Actually I’m here as a favour, Harry was a little tipsy when you called, so I said I’d…”

Cathy smirked as she read his lips. “I should’ve known, there’s a Mariners game on tonight after all.” She remarked, feeling secure for the first in months as he smiled at her somewhat shyly in agreement. “I’m sorry about all this, if I’d known I was putting everyone to this much trouble I would’ve waited until morning…”

Charlie frowned at her, remembering Sue’s observation that she didn’t think her sister-in-law could wait, but quickly hid his doubts with a gentle smile. “You couldn’t have just waited out here in this weather! I’m glad to do it, really. Come on, my car is over here.”

“Thanks.” Cathy replied quietly, moving a flat palm downwards from her lips in the sign for “thank you”. Charlie’s own sign vocabulary didn’t stretch beyond “okay”, “sorry” and “thank you” and he was left wishing he’d learned more as they climbed in the car and headed onto the road again in an awkward silence.

“Harry and Sue have been doing really well.” Charlie finally said after around fifteen minutes on the road. Normally he couldn’t be considered a particularly willing talker but this silence was eating at him. “Leah’s growing like a weed too.” He added, glancing over to where she was leaning tiredly on the passenger side window.

“Pardon?” Cathy asked, flushing as he cringed slightly, “I’m sorry, it’s just so dark in here I can’t really see your lips.” She explained.

“Oh right.” Charlie replied, immediately switching on the ceiling light and moving the mirror to a position he hoped better reflected his lips. “Better?” he enquired.

“Much.” Cathy answered brightly, touched by his thoughtfulness. “Thanks.”

Charlie looked at her questioningly, he hadn’t done anything any other decent person wouldn’t have.  “No problem.” He replied, “I was saying that Harry and Sue are doing great and that Leah’s grown a lot.”

“That’s good to hear.” Cathy responded warmly, a regret tinged smile playing across her mouth, “I haven’t seen them in so long. I didn’t make the effort I suppose.” She sighed before she couldn’t stop herself.

“Well you are now and that’s the important thing.” Charlie replied sincerely.

“Yeah.” Cathy agreed with some reluctance, though grateful for his kindness. “How are the Blacks doing?” she asked curiously wanting to move into a more neutral topic.

“They’re doing fine, although I think Billy’s under strain with being the chief of the tribe so young.” He confided.

Cathy’s expression became mournful. “Yes, I know how…heavy the weight of the tribe’s expectations can weigh on a person, but he’ll be fine. The Blacks have been chief for three generations after all!” Charlie nodded in thoughtful agreement but as far as she could see didn’t reply. She sighed again, her nails digging into the sides of her chair as she asked the inevitable question politeness dictated must be asked. “How’s Renee?”

Charlie stiffened as if she had burned him, his knuckles turning white on the steering wheel and his eyes suddenly completely fixated on the road. “Fine…as far as I know.”

Cathy’s frown deepened, wondering if she’d read his lips properly. That struck her as an extremely strange thing for him to say about his own wife, especially since Charlie’s mind had always been so full of her before. She saw that their conversation was over and wished she’d obeyed her reignited feelings of old teenage jealousies and not mentioned the flippant blonde as the rest of the drive passed without so much as a word being spoken between them.

A/n: PLEASE REVIEW! :D A big thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/alerted the first chapter, I really appreciate it and hope you still like the story.