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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Charlie put the finishing touches on the wrapping paper and brought it upstairs with Tango trailing behind. He thought that the presents organised would be very good.
Knocking on the door before he entered Charlie smiled at his daughter, "Happy birthday."
Bella clicked her tongue at her father, "I thought we agreed, no presents." Tango jumped up on Bella's bed and covered her in kisses, Bella had yet to notice the present attached to the dog's police harness.
"Well, the one from me's not wrapped, so it doesn't count." Charlie held out a thin rectangular present with a bow on top but first handed his daughter a new camera with a pic bow as decoration. "Took some time to reel in Tango from her crazy shopping spree," Charlie made an action for Tango to spin around which she did and Bella let out a light laugh at the sight of a card and picture frame attached on the clips of her harness.
Bella reached forward and pulled the card and frame from her harness, Charlie whistled and Tango hopped off the bed sitting by his feet. The picture was of Bella asleep in bed with Tango curled up on top of her, when Charlie had checked in on Bella that night it was too adorable to not take pictures.
The card had a pop up dog on it and read:
To Bella,
Have a pawsome birthday!
Love, Tango 🐾
The newly eighteen year old laughed at the bad dad joke her father had obviously written "That's actually great. Thanks, Dad." Bella leant of the bed to stroke Tango, "And thank you, Tango, very considerate of you."
Charlie failed to hide his smile handing over the wrapped rectangle, "The camera goes with this one from your mom, we coordinated. Well, she coordinated me. It's to put your pictures in from senior year." Charlie's brow furrowed hands in his pockets, "Senior year. How'd you get so old so fast?"
"I didn't. It's not that old." Bella denied deadly serious, already anxious about her age
"I don't know, is that a gray hair?" He teased his daughter reaching forward to her hairline.
Bella immediately spooked from her dream shook her head jumping out of bed to look in the mirror, "No. No way."
Charlie held up his hands with a smile on his face, "Happy birthday."
"That's really funny," Bella said sarcastically, tango barked a goodbye but followed Charlie.
Charlie went downstairs and filled up the dog bowl which Tango happily tucked into, looking up when finished to see her human coming down the stairs in uniform. Since Tango was already in uniform they left the house before Bella, saying one more happy birthday before they left.
"Have you done your business this morning?" Charlie asked his dog before they got in the car, gesturing to her favourite pee tree. Tango barked in reply which Charlie took as confirmation and opened the door for her.
Once settled on the road, the chief of police turned on the radio, "Another missing hiker brings the total to three presumed dead. Rangers are searching for the killer animal..." Charlie turned down the radio of the cruiser and glanced at Tango, they had a hard day ahead of them.
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After a long day of work Tango was taking a much needed break at home.
Edward and Bella came home briefly so that she could drop her school bag and change. Over the summer, Edward had won back Tango's trust with a variety of belly rubs and head pats, even going as far as buying dog treats (which he got teased relentlessly for by Emmett and Jasper) and giving her one every time she did one of his commands.
Edward, planning on being in Bella's life for a long time, had decided it's best if he knew Tango's commands, so with Charlie's permission, he spent time with the dog when he and Bella were at the house. Of course Tango never responded to anyone like she did Charlie, but that was to be expected.
Charlie had gone on a grocery run quickly and didn't feel the need for Tango to come after she'd been tracking all day.
"Just wait here, I'll be done soon." Bella gestured to the living room and ran two at a time up the stairs. Edward came and sat besides Tango who laid stretched out on the couch, she briefly glanced up at him before resting again.
When he started scratching her ribs, the dog turned and moved so that she was laid across his lap. Edward still found it strange that the dog had become so trusting of him, brushing his hands along her body Tango let out a yawn.
The vampire could hear his girlfriend moving around upstairs, she wasn't the most graceful being or sneaky. It was only a few minutes of relaxation as soon Bella walked down the stairs with a different bag on her shoulder, much smaller than her school bag.
The Swan girl stopped in her tracks as she saw Tango practically covering Edward's lap.
"I need a picture of this," Bella shook her head and pulled her new camera from her bag. Aiming it at Edward who was sat comfortably on the couch petting a happy Tango, "Smile." Edward allowed a grin to cover his lips at Bella's happiness. "Okay, maybe now one where Tango looks at the camera?" Bella suggested half like a question, "Tango," she whistled. The dog picked her head up and turned to her second human, Bella took a few more photos and internally awed at the picture.
Later that night when Bella returned from the birthday party from hell, she printed out all her pictures from the day. Pinning the one of Edward and herself on the wall next to Edward and Tango. Those pictures would be gone days later.
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authors note- welcome to new moon! it would be much appreciated if you could comment or vote if you're enjoying the story.
can we just appreciate how much Tango loves Charlie >>>>
