Parent Talk

Title: Parent Talk

Pairing: Mentions of Jacob/Bella and Edward/Bella

Timeline: Eclipse.

Summary: After Edward/Bella came to Phoenix to meet Renee, Charlie and Renee had a talk.

Author: Rainypromise (ff.net) Borntobewild13 (Livejournal)

Disclaimer: If I was Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn would never have happened. And I would be so rich, it wouldn't even be funny.

Author Notes: Yes, I have been MIA for a month and should be drawn and quartered. My excuse? One of my books has the chance to be published so I'm busy revising that and meeting with the publisher. Have to cut back 100 pages. Boo Hiss.

Oh, and it's Indonesian. So, you guys wouldn't even get to see it. LOL. But you know, maybe you can wait for TOUCHED, as soon as I get an outside-country publisher to take it on. Searching for publishers in Singapore. Any suggestions?

Anyway, this is something that's been brewing inside my mind for a while and persisted after I've watched Eclipse. Then suddenly, this line (Well, you should've seen her when she's with Jacob) and the rest pretty much wrote by itself.

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"So?"

Renee squirmed on her seat. She always did when Charlie came after her with his cop voice, even if the effect was filtered by the phone. "So what?"

"You've met…him. What do you think?"

Renee smiled at the gruff tone in his voice. "He's…very handsome. A little pale, I tried to get him to get out in the sun for a bit but…"

"I wasn't talking about his looks, Renee."

She doodled on a notepad and found the to-do list she was searching for last week. "He's quiet and polite. He's very mature for his age."

A soft snort came out of the line. "You don't like him."

'I didn't say that. And don't you tell Bella that."

"Admit it, you don't like him."

"I don't don't like him, he's just…different. He's very…"

"Staid."

"No."

"Boring."

"No! Charlie Swan, don't put words in my mouth."

"He's not the person you would've chosen for Bella. He's exactly the type of person you would've avoided."

"Well, Bella's not me. She's more like you actually."

"And I married you. Case and point."

Renee sighed. "All right, yes, he's nowhere near the person I'd imagine she would end up with. I imagined someone more…"

"Less morose?"

"Morose? Charlie, have you been reading again?"

"Got it off a new words-a-day calendar, ma'am."

Renee snorted, she'd always enjoyed Charlie's wry humor and the way he'd use the small town cop drawl to his advantage. A lot of people trip over his wily use of the stereotype and practically confess to his face.

"And yes, I am less morose…but we got divorced, remember?"

He made a low sound at the back of his throat and Renee was worried that they would fall back into an old argument (I didn't want to get a divorce, you left me, remember?). But all Charlie said was, "They're too young to marry."

"And who is talking about marriage?" Her eyebrows rose up to disappear at her hairline, but she knew why Charlie brought up marriage. Something about how Edward and Bella was with each other. "What can we do? You know how stubborn she gets. At least she would be getting married before…you know."

Quiet settled over the telephone lines.

"He is…different. They're very…" Renee frowned. "She's different when she's around him. She would be Bella when she's with me but once she's around him…"

He was so quiet, she thought Charlie had hung up on her or something but before she could make sure she heard a sound; Charlie shifting on his chair. "Yeah, well. You should see her when she's with Jacob."

Jacob. That's a name that she hadn't heard in a while. Everytime she tried to bring him up in a conversation, Bella had looked away and ignored her attempts. "Would I like him?"

"You'd love him." Charlie's voice warmed and she could practically see his smile. It was obvious he'd much prefer Jacob over Edward. "She's different when she's around him, too."

"In what way?"

"She's lighter. Has more fun. Laughs more. They fight a lot but one or the other always slinks back to make up."

Renee laughed. "From what Bella told me about him, he sounds amazing."

"He is. He's a good kid."

A good kid, high praise coming from Charlie. Honestly, when Renee read all the emails about Jacob, she had hoped…but then somehow the emails about Jacob stopped. And emails about Edward came. She didn't really know what to think.

"She loves him too, you know."

I have a best friend, mom. His name is Jacob. He's Billy Black's son and sort of Charlie's adopted one. He's amazing. I wish you could meet him. He always makes me feel better…he makes Forks feel like home. He makes me feel…that it's okay to be me. 

Just me.

"Yeah. Yeah, I could tell."