AS THE MORNING dawned on what appeared to be a relatively normal day in January, the returning birds chirped and the wind blew gently. Crisp voices could be heard as people bustled with their normal routines, coffee was passed and conversation passed in a gentle non urgent manner as people adjusted to the sharp reality of the morning. Things remained as they usually did in the small town of Forks, where just like every small town things rarely changed, routines went unadjusted and uninterrupted.But change was on the horizon for the very small town. And as the population set to rise by two, things would also never be the same again. For the small population change would come along with large harsh shattering of reality as the veil which kept so many of the inhabitants of the town away from what was really surrounding them was pulled from their grasp. 

For the Swan household, this morning in January was not the same as it had been every other day for as long as they could remember. And this was because it would be the two new inhabitants of the small docile town would be moving into their moderately sized three bedroom house. The move had been planned for a few months now just under three as it was this amount of time required to not only organise the flights and moving but also to prepare the house ready for new inhabitants. The two current members of the Swan household, lived in not unkempt quarters, it was no where near messy or something to be ashamed of. However, it was not a home in which a small child could grow up in. There were many things which needed a general update to begin with and then there was child safety things that they had to do before either but especially Charlie was happy to allow a baby into the house. 

The house the Swan's lived in was only a three bedroom house, well it had only become a three bedroom house when a small office had been converted into a spare bedroom a few years back. And it was soon to hold four people. And despite in theory the two new inhabitants being able to share one room, Charlie had not wanted this. And therefore, a fourth bedroom had to be made. And general construction had to begin on the house to allow for a staircase to be put in so that the attic could be converted into a fourth bedroom. Construction had taken over a month to just complete and had turned out to be a much bigger project than either of them had expected. But now it had been completed it had been something worthwhile.

And following the decoration of the newly created room, the youngest member of the household, Veronica, had gotten the bite of interior design. Which had resulted in no room being left undone. And the dwindling of the savings account of the patriarch of the family. Sure perhaps some of the rooms didn't exactly need that much of a revamp, and sure it would have saved him money yet Charlie Swan allowed for it all to occur. But it was not because he felt as though he house did need all the work doing to it that it ended up having. It was the chance it provided for him to get to spend time with his youngest daughter, give them a shared project they could both dive into on the evenings and weekends, pick up and drop whenever they had time. Charlie having felt important that they did this together before the dynamic of their day to day lives changed. 

Charlie had never kept what was going on at his house a secret. It would be difficult to hide the large house wide redecoration to begin with. And he was simply way too excited to tell people the reason for his decoration and increased mood. The confirmed reality that his eldest daughter and first grandson were going to live with him for the foreseeable future was everything he could have ever dreamed of. There was always a part of him ever since the divorce which had been nagging that he should have done more to have both of his children under his roof. Every time his eldest daughter visited and he had heard what living with her mother was like, Charlie had regretted not fighting more at the initial divorce hearing and had fought more to get his eldest, Isabella, back under his roof. But it had been an unsuccessful fight, and visitation soon stopped when Charlie had got more and more evidence. And the next thing he knew, Bella did not visit for over two years and his youngest, Veronica, was no longer allowed to visit her mother and sister. 

He always pondered to himself, especially in the last 7 or so months, whether having both of his daughters living under his roof would have prevented the current situation they had. Whether having one stable parent who could, in his own opinion, act in a proper manner would have lead his eldest daughter down a different path and prevented some of the situation she currently found herself in. But he would never know the answer to the internal questioning and would only be able to move from now onwards to enact what he so desperately wanted to. To give Isabella that stable parent and stable Homelife that she so obviously needed and see if he could put her on a proper path. A path where she could make the most of the current situation she was in and move onwards with her life in a way which benefitted both her and her son. He hoped that by having her under his roof they could path the strained relationship between father and daughter, the strained relationship between siblings. And perhaps with these strong bonds, ones which had been damaged from distance and he was sure that his own actions fighting for custody did not help they could all grow as a family. Because if there was one thing that Charlie wanted it was a happy and healthy family, And the family he had with his daughter was that, it was happy it was healthy but it was not complete. And it was a shame, Charlie knew it was, that he felt that it would not be complete until he had both of his daughters under his own roof and now his grandson. 

Veronica Swan, awoke that morning with complex feelings. She was excited in one part to see her sister again, the pair having not seen one another since they were both 14. Isabella and herself had a complex relationship and had done for as long as Veronica could remember. They had a relationship that she saw none of her friends had with their own siblings. It was something she was often irked with when she heard stories of how well her friends and their siblings got on, or how well they didn't on occasion, and she had nothing to compare to their stories with. For the sisters had only spent a few weeks together each year and just after they had both turned 14 those weeks were stopped. And perhaps she blamed it on all the TV shows and films she watched, but Veronica wished they had a much better relationship. The sisters were Irish twins only 9 months apart and should have been able to talk to one another about everything, from friends to boys and so forth. But they were more of acquaintances not even bordering on friends yet alone siblings. But the excitement at seeing her sister again, and potentially starting to build the relationship she was so desperately after, was clouded by an overwhelming sense of anxiety. It was the lack of bond which caused the anxiety, after all from the last time that Veronica could remember spending time with her sister, the girls had less in common than she thought they would. Yes they both shared the awkward trait they had gotten from their father, yet Isabella was much better at masking this than Veronica was. And they shared other traits such as a love for books but that was the only real things they seemed to have in common. Isabella was much better socially than Veronica was, the older sister had many more friends and a much more prominent social life. Veronica on the other hand, only really had a bond to her softball team and the few people her age that she had met through her father and his friends. 

Veronica also felt a large amount of anxiety in regards to meeting her nephew. The young baby was now seven months old and she had only seen the odd photo of him. She had also not really had much interaction with a baby before, none of her neighbours had ever had one, and it was not like she knew very many people who were a few years older than her who had one either. She wasn't sure what she would do with her nephew or how to really act around him. But she was willing to try at least, there was nothing stopping her from doing it and that was what she needed to keep reminding herself. No matter how nervous she was, that this was an opportunity to at least try to develop that bond, and her father would be there to help her adjust and learn what she could do to help. After all, he had raised her on his own and was able to do everything eventually. And it wasn't like she was going to be raising her nephew after all, she would only be there to help her sister. Give breaks so her sister could focus on school work, play with him, give him gifts and help out from time to time. After all Isabella was the only parent her nephew, Matthew, had the father was not in the picture. It was a little complicated from what Veronica could make out, but Matthew's father had never been in the picture she was unsure what kind of person he was and she was he was not in the picture for a reason. And it was not for Veronica to judge or push for answers to these questions. That was between her sister and Matthew's father. 

It was 11:30am when the pair decided to leave the house to make the hour and a half journey to collect the two new household members from the airport. The plan was not expected to land until 1pm that afternoon, but with the states of the road and the known traffic which would occur on a Saturday it was only practical to set off with a little bit of extra time to the plane touch down. As if they were delayed by traffic they had a little bit of time prior and then the time it took to get through the processing area. Charlie would be driving to collect the new members as Veronica had only been driving for a few months now and just did not feel comfortable enough to complete the drive and collect the two new family members. It just wasn't something she was ready to do, not with the long distance and not for the first time. And therefore, her father was more than happy to do the drive though he would need reminding to not pick up his keys to the police cruiser that he often had at home. A force of habit for the days like today that he was on call, as he could not easily just get the day off as Police Chief unfortunately. There were two other options for which car he could take there was his newer Mitsubishi or the option of Veronica's old Ford. And as Charlie wanted to give off as good impression as possible it was a no brainer that he chose the newer car. Even if it was only a couple of years newer. 

And as they looked back at the driveway, it was obvious that a game of carefully planning and trial and error would be needed to get enough space for four cars. As the three cars which were currently on the driveway showed very little space for a forth and it was putting a damper on Charlie's plan to gift Isabella with her, new to her, truck later that evening. After all, Forks was small enough that it had little to no public transport but large enough that you needed a car to get most places. And he knew it was something she had wanted all the time in Phoenix but had been unable to own as Renee had forbade it. And it might have been petty but he would do anything if it would give him a leg up over his ex-wife. Charlie would turn to his youngest once they had pulled down the street desperate to reassure her that no matter what changes came in the near future that he would love her no less. 

"Ronnie, I know it's scary what's coming up it's going to be a big change as neither of us ever expected this to come." He paused not sure where exactly he was heading with this branch of the conversation. 

"I had expected you to bring another woman home before Isabella came to live with us." Veronica replied preventing an awkward lull in the conversation and Charlie found himself laughing. He knew his youngest daughter had been pushing him to try out dating again, she had tried time and time again to set her dad up on dates but it had little to no success. All she wanted was for him to be happy and no matter how many times he told her he was happy on his own she just wasn't 100% convinced. 

"I just want you to know that no matter the changes that come our way, I won't love you any less. You are my little girl no matter how much you say you aren't anymore." Charlie had finally been able to formulate the words he wanted to use. 

"I know dad, I promise." Veronica agreed and the conversation lulled for a little while. And as the scenery gently passed by the two sat in silence. Neither of them knowing what to next talk about. 

"I thought Mom had a handle over Bella and Matthew, why are they moving?" Veronica had asked the question time and time again in the few months after the move had been confirmed. Charlie had never responded to her question often giving a small shrug in response, but still Veronica asked once more just in case she would get a different answer.

"Your mother has been growing increasingly concerned over the last few months that Bella is not coping well with being a new mom. She's hoping that by coming here things might change, perhaps your sister having to make new friends as a single mom will help her adjust a little better. I'm not really sure exactly what she thinks will improve but I'm hoping we can at least help a little bit to make your sister feel a little less lonely." Charlie explained and could not see Veronica nod in response as his eyes were trained heavily upon the upcoming road but he understood that this would be enough to drop the topic of conversation soon enough. 

"Of course, I can't imagine what it must be like." Veronica responded. 

"And I hope you never do."

It wasn't long until the two Swans made it to the airport and by the time they were parked and in the correct area to collect the two new members of the household, they had made it just in time. For the plane had landed a short while ago now, and it would not be much longer before the two would make it through security and bag collection. It felt like time had slowed from the moment passengers started to trickle through Bella and Matthew were not the first out, nor where they in the middle group. Rather they came out last an unknown man pushing their luggage as Bella appeared to struggle to manoeuvre with the baby carrier in her arms. Charlie ushered the unknown man away with a 'cheers buddy I have it from here' as he commenced pushing the two suitcases and whatever carry on bag the girl had brought. Veronica went to assist her sister who was most likely incredibly tired from how long the day had already been and therefore accepted taking the baby carrier. She looked down at her little nephew who was currently fast asleep an smiled, he was adorable that much was obvious and looking at him put an ease to a little bit of the stress and anxiety she had regarding having a baby in the house. But only a little bit. 

"It's wonderful to have you both with us Bella" Charlie started as an attempt to start conversation knowing his eldest daughter took after him sometimes in terms of conversation.

"I can't wait to get to bed I'm knackered, he wouldn't settle all flight."  Bella grunted in response moving to gently push against her own forehead. Veronica looked down at the still sleeping baby and pondered why he had stayed awake all flight. Perhaps the noises were too much, she didn't know what the answer would be but she did feel bad for those on the flight with a stressed out baby. 

"Well he's settled now, so I'm sure it won't be difficult for you to get some rest when we get back home in an hour or so. We've done your old room up and converted the one next door into a nursery for Matthew so you can both get some needed rest this afternoon." Charlie responded and Veronica nearly missed the grimace on her sister's face at the mention of her old bedroom and the now nursery next to it. 

"I thought you only had three bedrooms?" Bella enquired as her eyes danced over to her sister who had fallen a little bit behind at this point as she learnt how to best walk with the carrier to provide as little jaring motion as possible. 

"We had to convert the attic to make enough rooms. Hence why it took so long to redecorate." Charlie elaborated excited to show his eldest the work he had done on his house. The house pride he felt overwhelming at that point. 

"Is the attic not bigger? Surely that isn't fair for one to get a significantly bigger bedroom than the other. Shouldn't you be up there?" Bella poised the question and Charlie could only grimace in response unsure how to best phrase his answer. 

"I thought if I was also down the hall if you needed some help with Matthew I would be able to give you a little. It makes sense for Veronica to be upstairs." 

"Oh..." Bella paused and he hoped that this would be the end of the current conversation but he was not sure. Bella after all had a lot of the same stubborn traits his ex-wife did and he was sure that this would be an ongoing issue. 

*EDITED 2022*
--solaris--