Time Swap

Disclaimer: I don't own the shows!

A/N:

Chapter 40 (Getting Ahead in Life)

Sixteen year old Charlotte sat with Mason on the living room couch, she'd since stopped using Charlie and began using her full given name in honor of her grandmother. She lived in a suburban two story home and had an average sized living room with a vanilla sectional couch. It was angled so the corner cushion faced the television on the wall straight across. She and Mason were on the right end of the couch, Toby and Regina were on the other end.

Toby was thirteen and had been hanging around with Regina a lot lately, most times it was just to annoy the living hell out of Charlotte. Regina was one of her best friends. The typical clique was her, Dee, and Regina. That was it. Of course, one look at her brother and his long shaggy hair, and Regina was crushing. There was no getting past it.

Her mom was at work, a congresswoman these days. Angelica and Harold had been married now for ten years, and of course, Charlotte was not their only child. They had two more, Nelson and Melissa. Nelson was nine years old, born September 9th, 2016, and Melissa had been born April 19th, 2020, making her five years old. The two kids were at the park with Harold. Normally Charlotte went with them, but she wanted to take this time to spend a moment with her brother and her boyfriend.

Of course, that didn't change the fact that Teddy was still in the house. "Aunt Teddy", as Charlotte referred to her as. She wasn't tied down to anyone and was working as a secretary for the Mayor. She was the life of any party and every month, she seemed to have a new boyfriend. They teased her nonstop about this. In return, whenever Charlotte wanted to make out with her boyfriend, Teddy would take her boyfriend to their bedroom and begin making loud noises that would make both Charlotte and Mason too uncomfortable to do anything. She had a feeling there was conspiracy here.

Mason had a hell of a time ever asking her out, when he did it was so sweet, but he still had to have a double dose of fatherly interview. Both Harold and Spencer demanded to know everything about him. He would bear in mind that Harold was a personal trainer and fitness instructor and Spencer was a football coach.

They knew their way around the body.

"Why isn't Dee here with her date?" Regina asked, leaning forward on the couch. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders and smiled as Mason put his arm around her.

"She's busy, remember? She's the first of us to get into a college." Sadly Dee was spending a lot of time studying. She wanted to be a police officer like her father, the current Police Chief of Denver. Yes, Teddy and Angelica both went to Harvard with Harold, they moved right back after graduating.

The Duncan brothers she still saw all the time, though it was difficult now. Gabe had moved to Trinidad with his wife Jo, and daughter, Jenny. PJ went up to New York where Skyler was a medical doctor and he was a music professor.

"Well she should be here." Regina sighed and looked towards her wristwatch, her mom was always strict about the time she wanted her daughter home. "So what is Spencer up to these days? You're so lucky to know him, Charlotte."

"He's busy getting his team prepared for the next game." Spencer had come a long way since the struggle with Jonathan years ago. He wasn't set back by that limp he had to live with, it only meant he couldn't play football. Harold, being a personal trainer, had greatly helped him bounce back. Now he was one of the best coaches around. "You should ask your mom about your dad."

"I do, but she only ever refers to him as a drunken shithead and will never speak of him." Alice Wartheimer had become a powerful district manager for the supermarket stores and never once needed child support. She had a lot of pride, Charlotte couldn't imagine what it must be like to try and win her over. Spencer evidently had enough hell trying to regain her mother's trust! She could only imagine what would happen if Angelica had been like Alice. That was a woman who never 'needed' a man in her life, a happy single mother. A nightmare to contend with.

"Anyway!" Toby declared, moving on from the conversation. Charlotte flashed a smirk at him. He wanted to be an astronaut these days, to fly to the stars. He was an amazing little twerp, and of course, they drove each other insane. "When are you going to tell Aunt Angelica about the good news?"

"What news?"

"Uh hello? What the principal said!" She tilted her head then clapped her hands, remembering what he was talking about.

"Oh! That! As soon as she gets home, she's going to be so proud!" She never let her smarts die down, both her mom and Dee kept pushing her to excel at everything. It paid off too! She'd tested out of Kindergarten when she was five and started schooling in the first grade. So when most were six in that grade, she was five. She was supposed to be going into her senior year, but the teachers said she was able to skip right ahead. She would be joining Dee at college!

"Great!" Toby leaned back and sighed, putting his arm around Regina's shoulders and twirling his fingers in her long red curls. "Life is good, Charlotte. Tell me more about Mom and Dad, would you?"

"I don't remember a lot about them, you remember." There wasn't much to recall, she barely even remembered Jonathan. The only time she remembered of her adoption was through Teddy's video diaries, which she regarded very highly. "I remember Amy was a very loving woman who would do anything for her family and Bob was always goofy and protective." Toby closed his eyes and breathed in.

"Yeah. You don't remember much, but for some reason, you always remember my first word…"

"Of course!" She laughed evilly and grinned, just as she once predicted to him, his first word had been Charlie. She decided from that point on to never let him live it down that she'd been right. She annoyed him enough that it just became habit, he was always saying her name out of irritation, then finally one day, he said her name aloud for all to hear. "I was your first word! Hah!"

"Yeah, yeah, boast all you like."

"Oh but I will!" Mason and Regina laughed, always amused by the banter. The front door opened and Angelica strolled in. She was wearing a red business suit, her hair was down over her shoulders, and her lips curled into a smile as her eyes rested lovingly on her daughter. She'd been good with her promise and was never too busy to be there for Charlotte over the years. Charlotte and her family had always been number one in her life. Her job came second. "Momma! I've got terrific news!"

She jumped from the couch, excited as always to see her mother. Angelica laughed delightedly as Angelica hugged her. "What's the news?" Charlotte took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder as Teddy started walking down the steps, eager to hear as well. Just before she was able to announce, her dad came walking through the door with Nelson and Melissa, excellent timing! Harold looked to Angelica with a smile and laughed heartily.

"Looks like your mom beat us home by a minute." Angelica smirked at him and wagged her eyebrows.

"Guess who's making dinner tonight, Harold." They were always making the arrival home a competition, with the loser making supper. This night was going to be different. Charlotte loved cooking, and now, she wanted to make supper in celebration of her good news. "But first, Charlotte's got an announcement to make."

"Right, but I want to make supper tonight!" Harold lifted his eyebrows as Charlotte took a step back. Her parents nodded as she pulled a slip of paper from the end table and handed it to her mother. "Here's why!" Angelica hummed as she and Harold read the paper, their eyes widening with astonishment. Charlotte beamed with pride and put her hands behind her back. "I tested out of my senior year! I get to go straight for college!"

"That's amazing news!" Harold exclaimed. Angelica chimed happily and the parents hugged her close. She heard Teddy croon her excitement and rush over to hug them. Charlotte had ideas for what she wanted to be, where she wanted to go in life. She wanted to be an explorer, adventurer, a researcher like Jane Goodall. Though, she didn't want to work with apes.

Either way, this moment, this was what she lived for. Her family, moments like these that she kept in the back of her mind to remember always to cherish. She still remembered having come a breath away from losing them, to losing everything. So no matter what, she would never let that happen again.

Some people thought she clung to them a bit tightly, and sure she had to work on that, because they would be right. She did, and she had her reasons. Jonathan was just a man of nightmares past, but his memory still frightened her to the point that she did not want to be separated from her family.

College, whenever she hit it, would be a big step for her. She wanted to start out, maybe at a community college nearby, and work her way up to a university. She might not get into her mom's Alma Mater, to be honest, she was afraid to try for it because of the distance. Only time would tell, that was the philosophy she lived for.

Time will tell, and, one step at a time.

She would work on her separation anxiety, it wouldn't hold her back from achieving whatever she wanted in life. Today was the real beginning, the real beginning of the rest of her life.

Well I hope you enjoyed this. The last chapter, it's been a good run, and I'm grateful for everyone that managed to stick with me the whole way through. Though there are those that have seemed to lose interest a few chapters back, it is always sad when that happens, but again I'm glad for those who made it to this point. What do you think of Charlotte's future with Angelica, Teddy, and the whole lot of them?