Chapter Text
"How are you doing?" Charlie Swan, the Chief of Police in Forks Washington, asked his niece on the phone.
Imogen Sparrow was the daughter of Charlie's younger sister, Elizabeth, and her husband, Robert.
Elizabeth had spent most of her childhood with their grandparents since their parents hadn't really wanted a daughter.
But she had never held it against him, in fact she was the one who wanted a close relationship.
"I'll be honest, I feel like I'm drowning. But I know that I'll make it through." Imogen answered.
Charlie sighed, feeling the exact same way.
Last month, Elizabeth and Robert got into a car accident.
Charlie had taken time off to help plan the funeral and be there for her but Imogen had insisted that he needed to go back, that he couldn't afford to spend all his time with her.
She was right but that didn't make him feel less guilty.
"You're coming next week, right? Are you sure you don't want me to come down there and help you pack?" Charlie asked.
Imogen chuckled, "I'll be fine Uncle Charlie. You don't need to come here."
"Really, are you sure?" Charlie asked.
Sensing that her uncle's anxiety was starting to act up, Imogen gave him an order. "Have you prepared my room yet?" Imogen heard Charlie pause and let out at 'uhh".
She chuckled while shaking her head. "Well then you can prepare my room. That would be a big help to me."
Both Charlie and Elizabeth had an anxious need to help people. Especially if they know that person isn't doing well emotionally or mentally. The best thing to do was to give them something else to help with.
"I'll get right on that. Do you have any preferred colors? Or what you want it to look like?" Charlie asked.
"Blue. As long as there's something blue, I don't really care what it looks like." Imogen answered and Charlie smiled with teary eyes, Elizabeth liked blue.
"I can do that." Charlie answered, his voice quieter then before.
"Thank you, Uncle Charlie." Imogen said and it was clear that she wasn't just talking about the room.
"You're welcome, Little Sparrow." Charlie said, earning a laugh and an eye roll from Imogen.
When her parents first met, they had instantly bonded over their bird last names. They even went as far as trying to "accidentally" meet each other so they could tell the other about the bird facts they researched the night before. Eventually, one of them got the guts to ask the other out- they never told her who but she thinks it was her mother.
"See you soon, Uncle Swan." Charlie laughed before saying 'love you.' and hanging up.
~
Imogen got off the plane, looking for her Uncle Charlie. She walked through many people, saying 'excuse me' and 'sorry' every time she accidentally roughly bumped into someone.
After making it through a hectic crowd and walking a little further, she saw a man by a police cruiser holding a sign that said: "Little Sparrow"
The sign was cute. The background was painted blue while the words are in black. It even had little baby Sparrow birds decorating it. Knowing Charlie, it took him hours to do it since he would have wanted it to be perfect.
Imogen laughed, delighted, before she rushed over to man while yelling, "UNCLE CHARLIE!" Once she got closer, she dropped her bags and jumped to hug the man.
Charlie dropped the sign he made to catch his niece. "Hey, Little Sparrow." Charlie said as he hugged his niece tightly.
Imogen hugged just as tightly. Uncle Charlie was always so comforting. Just like mom was. "Hey, Uncle Swan." Imogen said with a wet laugh before pulling away and wiping her eyes.
"Ready to go?" Charlie asked and Imogen nodded. "Yup!"
Before Imogen could get the bags she dropped, Charlie had rushed to get them and put them in the truck.
"You really didn't have to do that." Imogen said with a sigh.
"Well, you can't be doing it. You've already done so much. You need a break." Charlie insisted.
Imogen laughed before making her way to the passenger seat, "Whatever you say, Uncle Charlie."
~
"No way!" Imogen said with wide eyes as she looked at her uncle.
The entire ride, Charlie and Imogen were talking, updating each other on their life. And when that was over, Charlie started talking about town gossip.
"Yup. Betty-Anne was said to be outraged about it. Annie-Lou was just as upset. The two fought in a parking lot." Charlie said with a laugh, remembering how bewildered he was to get a call that they were fighting.
"Who won?" Imogen asked she leaned closer.
Charlie waited for a moment, obviously trying to amp up the suspense. "Annie-Lou won."
Charlie laughed as he saw the disbelief in Imogen's eyes.
"You're lying!" She yelled as she shook her head at the thought of Annie-Lou winning.
"No, I'm not." Charlie denied with a laugh. "Annie-Lou won."
"Betty-Anne is in her 40's. Annie-Lou is 98! Practically in the grave, there's no way she won. All Betty-Anne would of had to do was knock her over and watch as she tried to get back up." Imogen said causing Charlie to choke on his saliva.
"Imogen!" Charlie scolded. But Imogen only laughed, "I know you had the same thought."
Charlie paused before reluctantly nodding. "Yeah, I did."
After a beat of silence the two broke out into loud laughter.
~
Charlie parked his cruiser before getting out and going to the trunk, once again intending on taking all of Imogen's bags.
"At least let me grab one." Imogen said as she got out of the car. But once again, Charlie refused and Imogen sighed. "Fine."
Charlie and Imogen walked to the door, Charlie then struggled to open it with all the bags in his hands. "This is why you should have let me carry my own bags." Imogen said with a petty smile.
Charlie rolled his eyes at his niece, who continued to watch him struggle, before he finally managed to open the door.
"You don't need an introduction, you already know where everything is." Charlie said.
Imogen has been visiting every break and summer since she was 2 years old. She always came. Even if she was sick or dealing with a really bad period.
Imogen smiled when she saw the pictures of her mom around the house. She then laughed when she saw a picture of herself. There were two photos in the frame. She was about 6 in both pictures.
In the first one, she was smashing Bella's face into a cake. Laughing as she held Bella's head down. In the second one, Bella was crying with cake all over her face while Imogen was cackling, mouth open wide as she pointed at Bella's ugly crying face.
The best thing was that this happened at Bella's birthday party.
The only reason Imogen didn't get in trouble was because on her last birthday party, Bella destroyed her cake and ruined some of her presents. Charlie, Elizabeth, and Robert all knew that she would get back at Bella and she did.
Renee, while upset since she put so much work into Bella's party, did understand why she did it and wasn't that mad at her. She even used the situation to as a lesson to teach Bella why she should never ruin someone's things or be mean to them.
"Can I keep these?" She asked, smiling widely when she saw Charlie look at what photo she was talking about and had to hold in a laugh. "Yeah, I'll make copies."
Imogen snorted, "Looks like Uncle Charlie likes the photo just as much as I do." She thought.
Charlie, who could tell what she was thinking, rolled his eyes. "It's not like that."
"Mmmhhh." Imogen hummed as if she believed him.
Charlie went to say something but shook his head and decided against it. It didn't matter what he said, she wouldn't believe him.
"Come on, let me show you your room." Charlie walked up the stairs, confusing Imogen. Seeing his niece's confusion, Charlie explained. "I had the attic remodeled."
Imogen's eyes widen. She had honestly expected that Charlie would give her the guest bedroom that was downstairs. She use to stay in there when she visited.
"You didn't have to do that. I could have stayed in the old guest bedroom." She said, still slightly shocked.
Charlie shook his head, "That room may have been enough for you when you were a kid but you're a teen now. I know how important it is that you need lots of space and room to move around. You also need your privacy so I had a bathroom put in and even added locks to the latch door."
Imogen followed after Charlie as he lead her to her new room.
Charlie opened the latch and let her go inside first.
Imogen stood there, mouth open as she looked at her room.
On the left side, there were two big windows. A desk up against the wall with a mirror in front of it and shelves next to it. A few of her knick-knacks that were in the guest bedroom were already on some shelves. There was even a small couch.
On the right side there was a small window, shining light into the room. Just below it where shelves and cubbies, clearly meant for clothes since there were already hangers on it.
Her eyes moved to the bed and she teared up when she saw the blue blankets.
She then took a peak into the bathroom, the tub was behind the door while the sink was next to it. In the corner there was a shelf for all her bathroom products. She smiled when she saw that Charlie had bought her period products.
Imogen walked back out and she attacked Charlie with a tight hug. "Thank you so much. Really."
Charlie hugged back with a smile, "You don't need to thank me."
"I'll let you get settled in. If you need me, I'll be downstairs." Charlie said once they both pulled apart.
"Enjoy your fishing documentaries." Imogen said playfully.
"They aren't fishing documentaries." Charlie said with a roll of his eyes as he started to leave.
Imogen snorted from behind him. "It's an educational episode, teaching you all about fish and how you can catch them." Imogen pretended to give an apologetic sigh, "I'm sorry to say this Uncle Charlie but that's a fishing documentary."
Charlie grumbled as he walked downstairs, leaving behind a laughing Imogen.