вυмp ιn тнe nιgнт

NINE

charlie swan didn't know what he had been thinking, agreeing to have dinner with a seventeen year old and her family when he really should be out looking for bella. sure, she was most likely well out of washington by now, which would make it harder to track her, but he knew he could do it. he might just need billy's help, but-

the door opened before he could convince himself to leave and look for his daughter, the newly familiar face of jasmine graves appearing and smiling kindly at him.

"hi, chief swan. i'm glad you didn't punk out before you got here," she says bluntly, the man internally wincing at how she'd deduced what he'd been about to do.

"yeah, well, i didn't wanna be rude if you were expecting me."

nodding in mock belief, she steps back and opens the door further, allowing the man to walk inside and into the graves household. charlie marvels at all the personal touches the family had added to the house since they moved in around a month and a half or so ago, but he draws his attention back to jasmine when she swiftly steps past him and begins to lead him through her home.

"maria, chief swan is here!"

she swerves into another room, gesturing for him to follow, and they come upon a woman finishing up some cooking in the kitchen area of the home, smiling at the little girl next to her who was trying to help.

they both look up when jasmine and charlie enter, eyes landing on the awkward sheriff as he shuffles his feet.

"just charlie is fine. i'm off duty, anyways. uh, charlie swan," he introduces, reaching out to shake maria's hand when she offers her own. the dominican woman smiles politely at him in greeting, nodding.

"maria graves. it's a pleasure to meet you, charlie. this is my youngest daughter, olive." the little brunette grins up at charlie when he looks down at her, almost giving him a sense of deja vu as he thinks back to when bella was a kid.

"hi, mr. charlie! i'm olive! we're having steak for dinner!" she exclaims, clapping her hands excitedly, and the chief lets out a small chuckle at the little girl.

"it's nice to meet you, olive."

footsteps approach from around the corner, and a man that was almost as tall as charlie walked in, a pleasant grin on his face as he lays eyes on charlie.

"it's nice to meet you, chief. i'm marcus, marcus graves." the two men shake hands, and jasmine watches as the awkward man slowly starts to relax and adjust to the new environment with the people that had moved to town only a couple weeks before his daughter. the two made some small talk, talking about the weather and fishing and such, before maria turned to olive and gave her a serious look.

"now, livy, i need you to go round up your other siblings, okay? are you gonna be able to do that?"

the little girl giggles and grins, saluting her mother before running off, her socked feet only making small thumping noises. the others watch her run off with fond smiles on their faces, before the other three start assisting maria with bringing food and things out to the dinner table.

"you'll be sitting here, charlie," jasmine indicates to the seat opposite the head of the table, where marcus usually sat. he nods in understanding, making sure to put plates out for all the available seats. he vaguely remembered jasmine mentioning she had four siblings during their small talk earlier, so he counted just to be sure there was enough.

multiple pairs of footsteps approach, and the adults plus jasmine turn to see three children coming in, along with a man that looked to be in his twenties. charlie observes them all, looking between the siblings and then their parents in slight confusion. he'd heard bella mention that her friend was adopted, and it had been a bit more obvious deducing that about olive, but it seemed like the others might've been as well.