[open] Mr. Mom

[Charlie Parker]

Well... the peace and quiet hadn't lasted long. Under the strong advisory of everyone who knew him, Charlie was still working double shifts Monday through Thursday, but now working only the morning shift on Friday, the evening shift on Saturday, and was taking every Sunday off. He needed to provide for his family... but he also needed to be there for them, and he couldn't do that if he was constantly working. Plus he was on the verge of reaching the end of his fuse and just snapping under the pressure and stress of it all. Being a full time cop and a single dad of two was a lot harder than it sounded, and all things considered he had been handling it quite well... until now. Work was running him down so much he was finding it increasingly difficult to get up every day much less carry out day to day tasks on his job... and Chuck had started asking him more and more when his next day off was... even little Melody had taken up the habit of crying for half an hour every time he would leave. So they convinced him... he needed more time off to spend with his family.

He had gotten up early this morning, knowing that if he didn't it wouldn't be long before Chuck came flying into his room and started begging him to get up, and from that point on he would have no peace and quiet. He loved Chuck, don't get me wrong, but he was like the energizer bunny on 12 energy drinks... he just kept going and going and going at such a fast pace, Charlie was certain there was no one alive who could keep up with that kid all day long... except Brody... but Brody was like a kid in an adult body, so he didn't really count. Anyway, Charlie got up at about 6:00, and got himself ready for the day, then headed down to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee, knowing he would need the caffeine to survive the morning.

About 8:00 Chuck got up, and very shortly after that Melody was crying in her room. So he got up and trudged up the stairs, knowing that the second he walked through that door he wasn't an "eligible bachelor" anymore... he was a dad. His two best friends were both already married...oddly enough. Everyone always said that of the three Charlie would be the first to get married, and Sebastian would be the last. Charlie was a lady's man. Unlike Sebastian he actually wasn't a total jerk... sure he could be a bit of a jackass at times, but he was a guy.. it was only natural. Anyway, Anthony was too crazy and too focused on racing to be getting married, and Sebastian was too... Sebastian to get married. Now here they were, Sebastian had been married for a year, Anthony was approaching his one year anniversary shortly, and Charlie was still single. Funny how that works isn't it?

Once Charlie had gotten the baby and Chuck both fed and ready for the day it was off to the stable to take care of the horses. Even though it was Charlie's day off, his police horse still needed feeding and all that good stuff. Once the stable chores were done, Charlie asked Chuck what he wanted to do today, and of course, Chuck's answer was that he wanted to get ice cream. Charlie couldn't help but chuckle at that... it was only 10:00 and the seven year old wanted ice cream... he should have guessed. Anyhow, Charlie of course told Chuck it was much too early for ice cream, so Chuck settled for the second best option. Football in the park. Now, considering Melody was only a year old, and Brody had the day off from the kids, football was sort of out of the question. Babies and football didn't mix. So Charlie came up with a compromise. They would take the dog to the park and Chuck could throw the ball for him and play on the playground. That always kept him busy for a good long time. And when the baby was sleeping later they could play football at home.

So after going back home and getting the dog and a few tennis balls, the trio turned quartet headed for the park. Charlie's police dog, Jigsaw, was essentially Chuck's best friend. If the dog could come, you bet he would be right along side Chuck's heels. Charlie knew the German Shepherd would take care of the kid, he'd done it several times before when Hayley had still been with Charlie and had hosted a party at their house when Charlie was gone at work. One of her "friends" who was high and probably drunk, went into the kids room where Chuck had taken the dog and the baby and was hiding, and attempted to take the baby for God knows what reason. Leave it to Jigsaw though... who had been trained as a drug dog as part of his police work. The animal wasn't about to let this stranger who wreaked of drugs to go touching his family and lit into that guy like there was no tomorrow. He was just lucky Charlie got home when he did or the dog probably would have killed him.

At the park, Charlie found a bench to sit on while chuck raced about the park like a little hooligan with Jigsaw always just one step behind him. It didn't matter where the kid went, up the ladder, down the slide, across the swinging bridge... Jigsaw followed him, keeping a close eye on him. It was nice for Charlie to know that nothing would happen to Chuck if he looked away for a moment or two. Being Mr. Mom and a full time policeman was hard... harder than most people would imagine... but Charlie wouldn't trade his baby girl or Chuck for the world. Those kids meant everything to him, and the day someone managed to force Charlie to let them go would be the day that he died. He loved them, and even though it was hard, this life was better than he possibly could have imagined it being.

[Gabrielle Mantler]

Bri walked down a dirt path, not really sure where it was headed to. Her mom had called, and what she’d figured would be a fairly normal morning filled with riding and some intense training had turned into the complete opposite, spending time twisting words and covering lies. But she’d given in, she’d stopped trying to hide everything from her mother. She now only hid the largest part of her life from her- that was what she wanted to do with it. Her mother now knew how much Bri had made in the past couple years buying, selling and riding horses. Her moms jaw had dropped and she’d threatened to cut her off, much to her surprise Bri had told her she didn’t’t care. That she didn’t’t need her, that she could make it on her own. It was the closest thing to sticking up for herself she’d ever done when it came to her and her mother. She couldn’t’t help it, the girl was just so certain about everything it was hard to tell her that she may just be wrong, that she didn’t’t pick up on some of the small clues.

She’d brought up school, saying she better get enrolled soon if she wanted to become a doctor. Little did her mother know she already had her undergrad and was planning on applying to law school soon. But her mother had never actually asked her what she wanted to be, just shoved the idea of being a doctor down her throat. And since it was already there anytime Bri went to speak that’s all that ever came out, she never managed to tell her mom about what was truly in her mind, truly running through her veins and just wanting to bleed out. Her mom just didn’t’t understand that what she wanted was not always what everyone else wanted, and mainly that sometimes she was wrong.

Bri could still remember the day her mother had stared her into the eyes and told her that her family was respected and so was the family name. That she was expected to live up to it, and if she didn’t they’d have nothing to do with her. She’d been thirteen at the time and the words still stung when she thought of them, even if she didn’t like her mother. It still hurt to hear her say those words, to hear that she wasn’t loved unless she was what they wanted her to be. Good way to gain trust eh? Yeah, she thought so to.

Bri bit her lip as an enormous pain went through her stomach. What the fuck? She thought to herself as she walked, still unsure of her destination. Her mind raced with possibilities, was she sick? Was she pregnant?! Bri’ s mind raced, calculating, making sure nothing lined up. She had almost worked herself into a panic that she had until she remember she’d had her period two days ago, was on birth control and that she would have already seen signs by now. She was much too slender and athletically built to ever go through a pregnancy without any huge signs. Thankfully. Bri had to blink a few times to get back to reality, she must of just been having some weird ass pain. Bri walked, attempting to slow her mind down and control her breathing. She was so focused on this that when she hit a clearing, which looked like a park, that it took her a second to realize where she was. Bri took a deep breath, smiled and told herself that there was no chance. Because in reality, there wasn’t. She hadn’t slept around in awhile and had been too busy with school, riding and the move the past 5 months to do anything beside the odd night out where she never allowed anything to happen. Bri looked at her stomach, covered by a black lulul lemon sweat and her hips covered in a pair of jeans. She nodded happily, there was no way she was 5 months pregnant. Thank god. Bri smiled as she followed the now paved path, spotting a water fountain near a set of benches. Bri walked up to it, held her blonde hair in one had and took a sip from the cool stream that sprayed out of it. She stood up and noticed a male sitting on the bench, watching a kid and a dog play. Figuring it was his kid and he wasn’t come creepy petifile Bri smiled and said “Hey. It’s a nice day isn’t it?”.

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[Charlie Parker]

Pedophile? Charlie was anything but, and the year old baby girl in his arms should have been the giveaway on that... well that and the fact that Charlie was next in line to being chief of police, that had to say something about his character. Of course, not everyone knew that he was a policeman, considering people were moving in all the time and not all of them had seen him in uniform yet, so they really had no way of knowing that he was a cop. All things considered though, Charlie was possibly the most trustworthy person around these days. He was a cop and a father of two... honesty was just in his nature now. He was a good guy... no doubt about it.

It was nice to be able to just sit back and relax for a while. He knew he had a good life, even though half the time he was stressed out and on the verge of killing someone. He felt like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders most days... but then there were times like now when he couldn't possibly be happier. He had the most beautiful blue eyed curly blond haired baby girl, and even though Chuck wasn't his son by blood, he was the best kid Charlie could have asked for. The seven year old was surprisingly mature for his age and Charlie was confident he was going to grow up to be a great guy.

He looked up when he heard someone suddenly addressing him. He liked to blame Anthony for his zoning out... he'd never done that very often before he met Anthony... it was just contagious. Unfortunately, Charlie never knew how to respond to those sorts of questions. If someone said was a fine day it usually was, and he wasn't going to say that it wasn't. Very much so. he said with a slight smile and nod, though he was at a loss as to how to continue on with any sort of conversation. A comment on the weather was hardly a very good conversation starter. That was when Chuck came running up, saving Charlie from the embarrassment of having nothing to say.

Daddy Jigsaw chased a squirrel up a tree and it's HUGE!

[/s] he said with the bright enthusiasm of a little boy who was quite pleased with his life. Charlie couldn't help but smile at the kid. Before he could respond to Chuck though, the little boy had taken off again, that high energy kicking in. If Charlie didn't know better he would think Chuck had ADD or something... but he knew that he didn't. Chuck was just an incredibly high energy child, and anyone who was around him much would come to find that half the time you shouldn't even bother trying to respond to him because he would forget what he was talking about before you could and be off doing something else in the blink of an eye.

Sorry... Charlie said turning back towards the girl, and standing up, shifting Melody onto his right arm and extending his left towards her. I'm Charlie Parker. He was a relatively outgoing guy, and when he wasn't under a lot of pressure he was a genuinely nice guy. Most people found him pretty easy to get along with. A lost of people didn't like him though, simply because of his career choice. It never took anyone long to meet him, or at least hear about him. He was "a better face for the station" than the chief of police, so whenever there was some news report about something with the police, Charlie was the one who they did interviews with. Everyone got to know him quite quickly after arriving, even if he had no idea who he was.

For that reason people would often recognize him and say something to him about something or other that was going on in the community. Some people asked him questions, some people thanked him for something he'd done, and some people complained about this or that. Most of them Charlie had never seen in his life, but he just rolled with it. He was more than used to it now that he had been in this field of work since he was 18 years old. It was a tough job, but one that he had always wanted to do. Plus, it paid well, especially for overtime, and he needed that to provide for his family. He had two kids to feed, a house to pay for... then there was Brody, who was a huge help to Charlie with the kids... but Charlie could swear Brody was a bottomless pit... he wasn't overweight or anything, but he could really put it away... not that Charlie was complaining or anything... just sayin. Ovweall though, Charlie wouldn't trade this life for anything.[/center][/size]

[Gabrielle Mantler]

“Gabrielle Mantler. But everyone just calls me Bri” she said, introducing herself. She felt awkward using her full name, she rarely introduced herself as that but Bri Mantler just sounded wrong to her, unprofessional. She wasn’t really sure how to introduce herself using her full name and the name she actually answered to. It’d been forever since somebody called her Gabrielle, since she was probably sixteen. She’d gotten the nickname when she was in roughly grade nine, because Gabrielle was such a long and politically correct name. It was boring, too grown up. It sounded like a name you’d call an eighty year old who stared on Little House and the Prairie. Nothing special about it, that was for sure. And well her middle name, that was just an embarrassment. Seriously if you’re going to give your kid a stupid ass old school first name give them a normal middle name. Elizabeth? All you could get out of that was Liz or Lizzie, neither of which she quite frankly enjoyed. So Bri had become her name, and pretty much the only thing she answered to. Even her signature was Bri, Gabrielle was just what happened to be printed on her birth certificate.

Bri watched the kid and the dog play, it brought a smile to her face. Kids were one the best things in the world, they didn’t care what anybody thought of them or what people thought of them. Bri was jealous of how easy going they were and how little they worried. On the other hand she felt bad for the ones that got stuck in horrible situations they didn’t deserve, Bri felt that was just down right cruel. She’d watched many people get affected by thing in their past that were minor compared to abuse or nasty divorces. But a lot of the stuff couldn’t be helped, usually it wasn’t anybody’s fault. How can two parents know they aren’t going to be in love forever? How can a mother know that she isn’t good with kids when she has them twenty-four seven. It worried Bri, she didn’t plan on getting pregnant anytime soon but it still worried her. What if one day when she had kids she was a horrible mother? What if they hated her? What if she screwed up their future? What if she became like her parents and thought they knew what their kid wanted, but didn’t? All the possibilities scared the crap out of her. She had a hard enough time keeping a horse around, let alone a boyfriend. But nobody really seemed to want to take the time, to help her get through her commitment issues. So maybe she was just destined to be single and never have family? Maybe. But that scared her two. Everything seemed to scare Bri now a days, which was weird. But maybe it was because all her life she’d figured she’d start settling down around twenty five. That was four years from now. That time limit scared her, even if it wasn’t real.

Bri looked at the little girl in Charlie’s arms. She looked so innocent, so sweet. Bri smiled at her, unsure what to do or say. Her mind was too busy racing instead of her mouth for once. Usually Bri was talkative, knew what to say. But she seemed lost in her thought lately. IT bothered her, she just wanted to go back to her care free self that had no problem partying all the time. Now the thought of going out and partying just seemed blah, she wanted to go with somebody. Which was weird for her, but she feared that this may lead to heart break, to just another let down. For once in her life she felt like she needed somebody in it, but maybe that was because she had no family here. Not even a good friend. Just people she knew, and that just wasn’t good enough for her anymore. At least, it didn’t feel like it. “What’s her name?” asked Bri, mesmerized with the small child as her mind ran circles around itself.

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