Unstable

Background

{~Charlie~}

Charlie was born and raised in Forks by his parents, Geoffrey and Helen Swan.

Geoffrey and Helen were both in their mid-forties when Charlie was born; they had thought they were unable to have children, so Charlie was a huge, but very welcome, surprise. He remained an only child and stayed close to both his parents.

Billy Black, Harry Clearwater, and Quil Ateara IV were his close friends since childhood. During his teenage years, Charlie always felt a little bit on the outside of his circle of friends. He attributed that distance to the fact that the others all belonged to the Quileute tribe and he did not. In reality, Billy, Harry and Quil were caught up in the secret world they were forbidden to tell Charlie about.

As an adult, Charlie joined the Forks Police Department where he befriended Waylon Forge and Jordan Parrish. Jordon was the son of Don Parrish who was the sheriff of Forks at the time, and was actually close friends with Geoffrey and Helen.

Don quickly became a second father or uncle to Charlie and began helping him with his parents and becoming a member of the police force.

He wanted to go to college, but his parents' health began deteriorating at the time and he felt that he needed to stay close to home. His mother was in the early stages of Alzheimer's and his father's mobility was being curtailed by severe arthritis.

Charlie did everything he could to help care for them.

{~Renee~}
Renee was born in Downey, California. Her father died when she was still a child, and her mother never remarried nor did she recover from the devastating loss.

Her mother, Marie, was a difficult and bitter woman, but also hardworking and loyal. Renée had a very different personality: fun-loving, creative and artistic, but flighty and inconsistent.

She did not do well in school, despite the fact that she tested well. During her teenage years she was unable to hold onto a job for long, though she always interviewed very well.

The first year after high school, Renee, who could no longer take living with her pessimistic mother, moved in with a friend who had space available in her small apartment, working several temporary jobs to pay for it.

The next summer, one of her girlfriends decided to take a month off and travel the length of the Pacific coast, camping along the way. This was exactly the kind of adventure that she loved. She went on the trip with a few other girls, having no idea where she would live when she got back, if her roommate rented the space to someone else.

{~Both~}
It was on first beach that the two met.

Charlie had been patrolling the beach because of the tourist crowd with Waylon while Renee was visiting with her friends.

It started as a whirlwind romance, and was only supposed to be a summertime fling, but Renee fell pregnant with their first child. Charlie was ecstatic and quickly purposed married which Renee accepted.

Helen and Geoffrey did not approve of Renee.

She was too flaky, immature, and irresponsible.

She wasn't fit for marriage or family life, she was better off as a lonely traveler. Charlie however refused to change his mind and quickly married her in the local courthouse.

Renee had sent word to her mother about the joyous news. Marie did not respond. She was disappointed in her daughter's reckless behavior, and had no intention in being a part of the mess that was about to unfold.

Charlie moved Renee into his home where she gutted and redecorated to her liking. Charlie's parents hated all of this, but couldn't do anything with their poor health and the underlying threat from Renee of being sent to a nursing home.

On September 13, 1987 Renee gave birth to a baby girl who she named Isabella Marie. Renee once again send word to her mother, but again received no response again.

Three years past and Renee fell pregnant again with their second child and gave birth to another girl on September 23, 1990. She was named Cecelia. This time when Renee wrote to her mother she received a response.

Marie was coming to Forks.

This baffled Renee, but she quickly set up for her arrival. Geoffrey had died during Renee's second pregnancy, so Renee intended for Marie to share the master bedroom with Helen.

Helen had changed when Renee fell pregnant a second time. She doted on Renee instead of avoiding her. Then when Cecelia was born, Helen ignored Renee and doted on her instead.

Cecelia had a Moses basket in Helen's room and Helen immediately became her primary caregiver. It was rare for Cecelia to fall asleep in her crib in Bella's room, and stay asleep in there. The minute she fussed, Helen would hear her, and immediately bring her into the master bedroom. Sometimes Cecelia wouldn't even fuss at all and Helen would take her.

Charlie thought that it was sweet and heartwarming that even in her dementia riddled mind she recognized and cared for her granddaughter.

Renee, however, found it creepy and disturbing. But she was grateful that she didn't have to take care of another baby.

Marie came and instantly there was a connection between the three. Helen and Marie started coparenting with their youngest granddaughter.

Much to Renee's chagrin. As, in her eyes at least, they didn't give Bella the same love and care.

They did care for Bella, but her 'typical toddler tantrums' were extremely volatile and unpredictable.

Once when Marie was cutting up fruit for lunch while Helen was caring for the children in the living room (Charlie was at work and Renee was upstairs).

Bella had gone to the kitchen to ask for done juice and when Marie's back was turned to get it for her Bella took the knife that Marie had been using and went back into the living room where Helen and Cecelia were.

Bella lunged at Cecelia with the knife, but Helen's instincts kicked in and she quickly sat Cecelia to the side and grabbed the knife, slicing her palm in the process. She twisted it around and attempted to get it out of her hand. Bella accidentally cut her finger on it and immediately dropped it.

As her finger bled she started hurling obscenities at Helen and saying words that no three year old should know.

This brought Marie and Renee into the living room, and upon seeing her mother Bella had burst into tears and started babbling nonsense about Helen hurting her.

They were immediately taken to the hospital where Helen got five stitches in her hand while Bella only needed a band aid. When Charlie showed up, Renee demanded that Helen be arrested and locked up. Charlie was unable to do that because of the inconsistencies in the injuries.

The end result was Renee leaving Charlie and taking Bella because 'he clearly didn't prioritize his family'.

Marie and Helen stayed in Forks and continued to coparent Cecelia until their deaths in August and October of 1994.

Due to Charlie's hectic work schedule, Cecelia was placed in the care of her mother who had remarried and was once again a stay at home mother. A steady income with someone with free time to provide love and care made Renee's house better suited for bringing up Cecelia than Charlie's.

Cecelia wasn't raised in a caring and loving household, instead she was abused and neglected by her mother and older sister. Renee's new husband, Phil Dwyer, ignored Cecelia's existence.

This persisted for two years before Renee had enough of the 'freakish abomination's' behavior and sent her to a psychiatric hospital in England. She lied to Charlie and said that it was a school.

It was there that Cecelia resided for the next 9 years, until Charlie requested her release.