The weekend dawned with a brief sunny spell, unusual for Forks. The clouds parting to let the golden glimmer brush along the grass. Chaney watched it from his bed, headphones on and AFI playing through his ears. His skin slightly chilly in the cold air but not cold enough to put on a jumper. His long sleeved t-shirt and jeans barely enough to ward off the brisk Saturday morning air that wandered through the open window. He breathed in the scents of dew and forest as electric guitars strummed in his ears. 

A knock on his door broke him out of the relaxed stupor he was basking in. He paused his music and turned his head to watch as Charlie entered. It was strange to see the police chief out of uniform. Dressed down in a blue thick knit and jeans. He almost seemed as uncomfortable in it as Chaney was at seeing it. "Ain't that cold?" The man waved at the open window. 

Chaney shrugged. "Never minded the cold". In fact, he almost enjoyed it. It kept him sharp. 

Charlie shrugged and sat down in the empty desk chair with a sigh. "Charles-", he began. Chaney bit back the correction on his tongue. "-As you know, my daughter, Bella, will be arriving tomorrow. I and Mr Aberdeen had hoped to get you placed with a foster family by now but it seems that we were being too optimistic with our chances at getting you placed so soon". 

"They don't want me", Chaney stated. 

Charlie let out another sigh, deeper this time. "No. They don't. We do not have many options. Either you stay here or a family takes you and none of them are looking to take more kids. So, unless they change their minds, you are stuck here".

Chaney huffed, hands tangling the wires of his headphones around in his hands. "You'd really let me, a vandal, a drug dealer, a thief, around your daughter Chief Swann?"

"Not like I have much of a choice", he grunted. "Besides, I believe that you're a good kid, deep down. Troubled like nobody's business, but a good kid Charles". 

Chaney groaned. "Just get on about the rules for your precious daughter". 

"Alright. Rule one. Stay out of her room. You will respect her space. Rule two. You are not to date her-" 

Chaney pulled a face. "No thanks". He did not really care for the gender of his partner but he would rather date a corpse than the Chief's daughter. Romeo and Juliet bullshit like that was best left for the storybooks. No matter how pretty she was. 

Charlie frowned at him, as if struggling wether to be offended at the quick rebuttal or relieved at it. "Right. Good. Rule three, previous rules made upon your stay here, such as curfew, will continue as usual no matter what Bella does. Rule four. If you harm Bella in any way then you are right back to juvie no matter what Mr Aberdeen says. Understood?" 

Chaney nodded in a bored fashion. Charlie stood up and the chair creaked loudly. "Good. Mr Aberdeen is arriving in an hour. He will let you know more about your situation then". The man then promptly left the room. The door clinking shut behind him. 

Chaney turned his head back towards the widow. The sunlight fainter then before. It sparkled on the glass and he watched it for a second before dragging his hands down his face with a loud sigh. The lack of control over his own life momentarily threatening to drown him before he inhaled the cold air and felt the iciness of it calm his breathing heart. He pulled the headphones back on over his curls and hit play. The music resuming in his ears. 

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Mr Aberdeen's car pulled into the house's driveway and Chaney could hear the crunch of gravel through his window even on the other side of the house. iPod on his bed and headphones buried in the sheets. He didn't move from his seat on his bed, back against the wall and the spring breeze tugging at his curls as he listened to the shutting of doors. Aberdeen and Charlie paused in the living room below to talk. The indistinguishable murmurs of their voices drifting up in a background buzz. It took five minutes before the steps were climbing upstairs. 

Aberdeen didn't bother knocking. He just pushed the door open and set his briefcase on the desk, mindful of where Chaney's homework was piled in a corner, and took the chair. Today he was dressed in a wine coloured thick knitted jumper over faded grey jeans. He looked better than Chaney had ever seen him. "You look cosy". 

Aberdeen flicked his gaze across the teen. "And you look cold". He didn't bother asking, instead he reached up and pulled the window close, cutting off the breeze and the outside sounds of nature. 

"How's school?" 

"It's school. How's my fostering going?" 

"Harder than I anticipated. No one is interested in taking you. Not with your record. Chief Swann is open to you staying here for a little while, depending on what his daughter says". 

"And if his daughter wants me out?" Chaney asked. 

"Then we find another placement for you or you go into a group home, or back into juvie for until you turn eighteen. Which neither of us want". Aberdeen's tone was factual, calm. That's what Chaney liked about the man. He pulled no punches but he was honest about his care. He did not get attached, but he did care about getting the teens he worked with the best chances. That was why Chaney let him be his probation officer. "We might try the Cullen's if worst comes to worst". 

"You would inflict me on a good doctor and his family?" Chaney grinned. "Shame on you". 

Aberdeen chuckled. "More like inflict them on you. Do morals and happy families give you hives?" It was a joke. 

Chaney thought about his experience with the Cullens so far, which was ninety percent  limited to his one conversation with Edward. Yet, despite the chuckle he forced at the joke, he couldn't help but feel that those words were far more truthful than they should have been. There was something about Edward that made Chaney's heart beat slightly faster. He did not know if it extended to the rest of the family but he expected that it did. "No. just the good old American dream. Makes me nauseous". 

"Same kid". There was a pause as the man glanced him over again. "Swann says that you have been good. Not broken any rules yet, here or at school". 

Chaney shrugged. "Give me time. It's been a few days". 

"Almost a week. How often were you arrested before you got sent to juvie? Practically once a week". 

"I blame my home environment. Trouble environment leads to troubled kids and all that". 

"Yeah yeah. So, to get my responsibilities out of the way. School okay? Doing your homework?" He glanced at the already done homework on the desk. "This is a lot of work done already". 

"I have nothing to do but work and listen to music". 

"Good work ethic to keep your grades high. Do you sleep? You look exhausted". 

"Sometimes". Chaney thought about the figure outside his window. After the nightmare about it being in his room, he had not slept much since. "Strange being in a room to myself now". It was strange to not hear the snores of his juvie roommate, or the sounds of guards. But it was a welcome strange that relaxed him far more than he portrayed. 

"Sleep more", Aberdeen recommended as he picked up his brief case and stood up. "I've got to talk to Charlie Swann for a bit". 

"What happened to Chief Swann?" Chaney teased. 

The man shot him a warning glare. "See you in two days". Then he left to room. Just like Charlie, Samuel Aberdeen was not a lingerer. Chaney listened to the shoe retreat downstairs before he rose from his position and cracked the window open again and inhaled deeply. 

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As soon as Chief Swann was out of the house and driving to Seattle airport to go pick up his daughter on Sunday morning, Chaney was out of the backdoor and striding through the garden and into the trees. His backpack on his shoulders and his headphones over his ears. The fragile sun of yesterday had been replaced by fog and drizzle customary for the area. It clung to the air and frizzed his hair up around his ears. A playlist he had made from all the old hits Andy had seemingly downloaded onto the iPod playing in his ears. 

His boots the only protection against the dew that flicked around his steps. The trees twisting around him as he stepped into the forest. Their trunks reaching high. Some as straight as arrow towards the sky, others gnarly and contorted. The earth soft under his feet, interspersed in fauna and the occasional rock that added levels to the landscape and hinted at the mountains beyond. 

The fog grew denser as he walked further into the trees. If he had not grown up and spent several years haunting the forests around Forks, then he would be worried about finding his way back. But he had once spent a week living in the forest when he was ten and since then, he knew how to navigate the trees. 

It took him a while to find a spot far enough away with a tree that he liked. He stared up at the branches as he pulled off his hoodie. Headphones playing through a series of Depeche Mode songs as he hung the hoodie on a semi dry rock nearby. The chilly air brushing across his bare arms as he reached up and jumped to grab the first branch. Muscles flexing as he pulled himself up. 

The juvenile detention centre had a gym but Chaney had never been a gym person. He had grown up building muscle climbing trees, mountains and running, usually away from the cops. Steel pull up bars and weights had been a poor substitute for bark and crisp mountain air. 

He could feel himself grinning as he pulled himself higher. Boots momentarily scrabbling against wet wood and for a thrilling second he slipped. The forest floor was far below him and he was deep enough into the forest that his body would never be found if he happened to die out there. The nature feasting on his corpse until there was nothing left but bones. That was half the thrill and he giggled as he swung from one hand before finding a foothold and pushing himself up further. 

His head broke the canopy and the wind blasted across his face, bringing a red flush to his cheeks. It would have been freezing if he was not panting from the exercise. Instead, it brought a pleased grin to his face as for the first time since he had left that concrete hell, joy infused his veins. From here the clouds hung low enough to dust the tree tops and blur our the distant view of the town. With the grey fog and low hanging clouds, it was as if he was all alone in the world. Away from everything on the earth that dragged him down. 

He could almost hear the memory of his mother laughing in his ears. The sound long faded but still infused with his joy. Chaney lifted his arms, thighs gripping the branch below him to keep himself steady as he pumped his fists in the air. "Whoooo!" The cry left his mouth with a delighted grin. A laugh following. "Fuck yeah!" 

It bounced across the branches and Chaney inhaled deeply as he finally allowed himself to bask in the freedom. Music in his ears and the breeze on his face. 

Eventually he knew he had to climb down. The exertion fading from his blood and allowing the chill in. Chief Swann would be back soon and he would need to be back at the house by curfew. It was quicker on the way down than it was on the way up. His feet remembering the right footholds. 

He was only a few feet up from the first branch, the forest floor in clear sight below, when he paused. Eyes scanning the rock where he had left his hoodie with a frown. The surface was bare. No faded black fabric in sight. His feet steadied themselves on the last branches as he finally swung himself down onto the forest floor. Gaze sweeping through the ferns for any signs of fabric. 

A creeping sensation of being watched prickled the back of his neck and any lingering giddiness from the thrill disappeared as he turned. Nothing but trees and fog greeted him. Chaney pulled down his headphones and ran a hand through his hair as his mind worked. There was no tracks so it couldn't have been any of the forest predators. A mountain lion or a bear would have left tracks. But there was nothing but his own footprints. He guessed that his hoodie could have slipped off the rock but there was no sign of it nearby and the prickling feeling did not cease. 

"That was my only hoodie", he sighed as he shivered slightly. The feeling of irritation and frustration warring with the rising fear and caution in his chest. He waited a moment, gaze fixed on the now empty rock, to see if his stalker would show themselves. Part of his mind wondered if he was just being sensitive. But the major parts of his mind listened to his instincts. They had never steered him wrong before. 

There was nothing but the silence of the forest. The sounds of the breeze through the leaves. The soft noises of all the critters going about their lives. Nothing to indicate that another human was near. After a few moments, Chaney sighed again. "Damn it". He stuck his cold fingers into his jeans pockets and began walking back the way he came. 

He had barely trudged fifty yards, just out of sight of the tree he had climbed, when a spot of colour in the underbrush caught his eye. He stepped closer to the crooked tree trunk where the colour was hanging and reached out to feel thick soft fabric on his fingers. It was a hoodie, the material a dark navy almost black shade. Just blue enough that it stood out against all the earth tones. 

He tugged the hoodie free from the trunk it had been hung on and held it up. The material was slightly damp from the dew on the outside but it was far thicker than his pervious hoodie and clearly far more expensive. The inside lined with warm fleece that was untouched by the outside dampness. He couldn't resist brushing his hand against the softness, lips parting with a soft exhale at the feeling.  It promised warmth and it was roughly his size too, maybe slightly too big. 

Chaney raised his head and glanced around again. Maybe a hiker had forgotten it here, he wondered. Yet, as he swept his eyes across empty forest, he knew instinctively that was not the case. It had been left there purposely. On his walk out, the forest had been clear. So it must have been left there while he was climbing, around the same time his hoodie had been taken. Hung up exactly where he would find it. 

Fear screamed in his mind to be heard, yet another part of him was pleased. Chaney knew that it was unsafe, certainly creepy as hell, but he was cold and he was not often gifted things.  It brought a warmth to his cheeks that he ignored as he swung the hoodie on. He was right, it was a little bit big for him. Feeling the unseen gaze prickle on the back of his neck.

"Finders keepers, I guess", he muttered aloud. He mentally sighed. If he was right and there was someone stalking him in the woods, then he did not care. They could kill him if they wanted. He did not have much to live for. 

As depressing as the thought was, it dulled down the fear. Chaney zipped the hoodie up and set back off towards the Swann house. The material soft and warm on his skin as music played through his headphones. The prickling feeling on the back of his neck never abating until he reached the house and was back up in his room. 

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He had been back for around half an hour, boots off and under his bed. New hoodie hanging on the back of his desk chair as he stared at it, eyes searching as if the fabric would spill all it's secrets. When the crunch of gravel sounded through the open window as a car pulled into the drive. He heard the slamming of car doors followed shortly by the bang of the front door. 

"Charles!" Chief Swann called up the stairs. 

Chaney sighed and glanced at the small alarm clock on the bedside table. Only two fifteen in the afternoon. He had left for his walk around nine twenty. Less than six hours and he already wanted the day to be over. He reluctantly abandoned his stare off with the mysterious hoodie and slouched downstairs. Charlie was in the hall struggling with a large purple suitcase and a smaller carry on. Familiar again in his police uniform. 

"Ah there you are", Charlie grunted. "Bella?" 

A girl around the same age as Chaney emerged from the kitchen. She had long straight dark hair hanging around her shoulders and big dark eyes. Her skin was paler than Chaney expected for a girl from Phoenix, but still tinged a warm golden compared to his own. She was slim and pretty in the simple 'girl next door' way. He could guarantee that the louts at school would be jumping over themselves to talk to her. New and pretty, she was going to be eaten alive. 

"Hi", she gave an awkward wave and tried to smile. He guessed that she was either scared of the whole 'delinquent' thing, or because she was now having to live with a strange boy. Even worse, share a bathroom with him. 

Chaney nodded at her, not bothering to smile. "The name is Chaney. Not Charles. Don't call me Charles, no matter what Chief Swann says". His tone was frosty, yet for some reason that made her smile more genuinely than before. 

"Chaney. Got it". 

"Charles. Come help me with the suitcases", Charlie called. 

Chaney rolled his eyes but went and took the smaller carry one and used his extra arm to help the Chief up the stairs with the other. Bella following silently behind. 

Unedited 

AN:  oooooooo what's the deal with the missing hoodie? Gifting him a new one? sort of sweet in a creepy way. 

totally meant to write this a stalker creepy scene but my brain kept on picturing Edward hiding behind the tree having a melt down over Chaney's blush. 

Chaney: someone took my hoodie and gave me a better one? weird but I'll take it anyway cause I'm cold.

Edward: *hiding behind a tree* He likes soft things! He blushed! He's so cute I'm going to die!

I am amusing myself with the fact that Edward is a canon overdramatic hopeless romantic. Sorry if I ruined the vibe but that thought made me giggle so I had to share.