Charlie Swan never saw himself not being lonely after Bella and Renee left, but his salvation came in the form of a Police K-9. Perhaps his sidekick would be the key to saving his daughter as well.
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"Sit," Charlie told Tango who complied, sitting on the kitchen floor as she waited for her breakfast. Charlie placed down the bowl and sat at the kitchen table with a steaming cup of coffee whilst he flipped through the newspaper. Bella hadn't come down yet but Tango hardly noticed as she was too distracted by food and the urge to pee.
Perhaps she'd drank too much the night before. After basically inhaling her food, Tango walked out the front door dog flap which was usually locked since it was quite large. The German Shepherd was no small dog so for security reasons Charlie often locked the flap and just opened the door for them both.
Tango didn't notice him right away because her head was tilted downwards but became deadly still as she saw Edward leaning against his car. Why was he here? He didn't seem threatening right now but he still had that nasty corpse smell.
Tango knew he was here for Bella but she wasn't even up yet. When Edward only looked at her she slowly continued down the steps sniffing the air cautiously. He made no move forward and wasn't being outwardly aggressive so she continued to sniff the ground.
When she made her way towards her favourite tree she squatted did her business. Edward looked away immediately even if she was a dog. Tango shook out her fur feeling much better and decided to approach Edward who seemed surprised by her coming closer. He knelt down and held out a hand, having seen many people do this before with animals but Edward didn't really approach animals unless he planned to drain them dry.
Tango sniffed his hand and by god he smelt awful, she let out a small sneeze which made the vampire chuckle. The dog toughed it out however as she had a feeling he was going to be here more often. Against her instincts she went closer and Edward slowly brushed a cold hand down her back. After a few strokes Tango seemed to be more comfortable as she tried to lick his face in his crouched position, he chuckled and pushed the loveable dog away.
Bella came barreling out the house with her school bag so Edward gave Tango one last scratch behind the ears and stood up. Bella raised a brow, "I thought you didn't like dogs?"
Edward chuckled at the hidden irony of the question, "She's growing on me."
Tango's tail wagged as if she understood the appreciation. Bella gave her a quick pat but told her to go inside. The dog complied and went to work with Charlie, she had quite a boring day for a change.
Since Bella had come home Charlie had changed his shifts (and therefore Tango's) to spend more time with his daughter. It didn't affect him really since he did years of overtime which built up his hours, so for the time being it was fine doing seven hours of work today. Besides, he was the sheriff so he was almost always on call anyway.
Charlie was flipping through channels, Bella was outside cleaning her car and Tango was just laid on the dog bed inside chewing on a squishy carrot when she heard a bang outside. Up in an instant she ran outside only to see Edward standing on Bella's truck. Tango went over and sniffed them both to make sure they were okay.
"Could you act human? I mean, I've got neighbours." Bella asked smiling as she pulled out her earphones.
"I'm gonna take you to my place tomorrow." Edward furrowed his brow and with very little effort got the dent out of her truck.
Bella looked astounded as she looked at her dent free truck, "Thanks." That was before what he said sunk in anyway and she eyed him, "Wait, like, with your family?"
"Yeah." Tango trotted around and put two paws against the tree that held her favourite rope courtesy of Bella so she was leant against it. She yipped at the rope and Edward quickly thinking of how to get on the dogs good side ran at lightning speed and grabbed the rope, dropping it to an eager Tango who immediately grabbed it with her mouth.
Bella's eyes widened at the blatant display of speed but quickly refocused, "What if they don't like me?"
Edward walked over amused, "So, you're worried not because you'll be in a house full of vampires, but because you think they won't approve of you?" He chuckled at the end.
"I'm glad I amuse you." Bella replied sarcastically.
Edward was enjoying the conversation with Bella but unfortunately it wouldn't last as he looked down the road.
"What is it?" Bella asked after he zoned out a little, or at least that's what it looked like to her. Tango trotted over with the rope in her mouth and stood besides Bella.
"Complication," He sighed, "I'll pick you up tomorrow." Edward disappeared into his Volvo and drove down the street, noticeable tension when he drove past Billy Black.
Tango's tailed wagged excitedly when Jacob got out of the truck, dropping her rope she weaved around his feet whilst he grabbed his dad's wheelchair from the back of the much nice pick-up truck. Jacob helped his dad from the car and Tango immediately licked his hands as a way of saying hello, neither minded since they were very used to dogs.
"Hey." Bella greeted, hands in her pockets, "Come to visit your truck?"
"Looks good. Got that dent out." Jacob dropped brown bags on Billy's lap, they smelt so good! Tango wanted it. The dog leant over the side and tried to nip at the bag but Billy pulled it from her reach shaking his head.
"Yeah."
"Actually, we came to visit your flat-screen, first Mariners game of the season." Billy spoke whilst Jacob felt the area where the dent had been on the truck, "Plus Jacob here keeps bugging me about seeing you again."
Jacob looked embarrassed as he avoided eye contact, "Great, Dad. Thanks."
Billy smirked at Jacob, "Just keeping it real, son." Tango's tail couldn't stop wagging as she sniffed Jacob's jeans.
Charlie came round the back holding two eight-packs of beer, "Vitamin R."
"Well done, Chief." Charlie placed the beer on Billy's lap, the man in the chair held up two brown paper bags proudly, "Harry Clearwater's homemade fish fry." Tango tried to nip the bags in the air but they were pulled from her reach by Jacob.
"Good man." Charlie began to push Billy's chair as the two teenagers followed with Tango trotting behind.
"Any luck with that Waylon case?" Billy asked already knowing what had done it, but sadly he could never help his friend with the case.
Charlie frowned, "Well, I don't think it was an animal that killed him."
"Never thought it was." Billy reminded in a sing song voice.
Charlie grabbed the back of Billy's wheelchair and started lugging him up the front porch, "So spread the word out at the rez, huh? Keep the kids out of the woods."
"Will do." Bella didn't like the way he looked at her, as if he knew her secret, "Don't want no one else getting hurt, do we?" Bella shook her head following the men inside. Tango dashed back through Bella's legs suddenly remembering what she'd forgotten. Scooping up the rope in her mouth she entered the house through the door that Bella had yet to shut.
Everything was set up quickly as Charlie had been preparing, Bella went upstairs much to Jacob's disappointment but Tango stayed in her bed chewing her rope whilst the men cheered or booed at the TV. To Tango, life couldn't be more perfect.
