I'm no Superman [open]

[Charlie Parker]

For weeks, people had been telling Charlie that he needed to take a day off... and for weeks that just hadn't happened... and, in fact, probably never would. Every single dad knows that there is no such thing as a day off. Even if you weren't at your paying job that particular day, it still wasn't a day off. With three children, the oldest 9 and the youngest 2, Charlie had his hands full at all times. As if being an overworked policeman wasn't enough, there were also football and hockey games, ballet recitals and riding lessons, t-ball practice and soccer, birthday parties and play dates. Charlie would probably never have a day off the rest of his life. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if the kids were closer to the same age... and all into the same things, but the day Chuck and Jamie were into the same things as Melody would probably be the day pigs flew.

Jamie was probably the easiest of the kids to take care of because he was just so incredibly independent and extremely mature for his age. Most of the time, he just sort of did his own thing and rarely needed to ask Charlie for anything. He would much rather write about stuff then go outside and play football with Charlie and Chuck. He was a very reserved child, and he tended to worry a lot of adults he was just meeting because he was just so... adult like and extremely intelligent. Chuck... was definitely more high maintenance than Jamie. Charlie could swear that Chuck was like the energizer bunny on 12 energy drinks. From the time he got up in the morning until the time he finally crashed at night, Chuck was go go go all the time. He wanted to play football, he wanted to play with the dog, he was running around the house battling invisible enemies, he was climbing trees and rocks and walls, he was running around for seemingly no reason at all... there just seemed to be no end to his boundless energy... The only time he was still for more than a few moments was when the Broncos were playing football... and even then, he was still incredibly animated. Melody... well, she didn't have the high energy that her brother had, but she was a fairly demanding child. Melody was a little princess, and, technically, the only one who was actually related to Charlie. Both Jamie and Chuck were adopted through Charlie's past two relationships. At two years old, Melody was already a little chatterbox. She didn't always make sense, but that girl could go on for ages. From her tea parties to telling Chuck and Jamie what to do, she was almost always blabbering on about something. Peace and Quiet in this house didn't exist.

Charlie had finally been scheduled for a day off from work, a rare occurrence in the small town with an even smaller police force, but his day off lasted from 12:00 last night until 7:00 this morning. At 7:00 sharp a blond fury cane flying into Charlie's room, took to the air, and crash landed onto Charlie's bed, followed, of course, by a much larger black and brown canine. Charlie would have loved to ignore the kid and let the dog take care of him, but he knew better than to assume that Chuck would leave him to have a few extra hours of sleep. The 8 year old proceeded to jump on the bed chanting "wake up daddy!" until Charlie rolled over and squinted up at the child. What are you doing up so early Chuck? He asked groggily, although he was sure he already knew the answer... it would start with "Brody says..." Brody says it's more better to get up early and get a start on your day than to sleep until it is all gone! He said exuberantly. Charlie sighed and shook his head Where do you think Brody is right now? He asked, though he already knew the answer to that too. Probably still sleepin' the 8 year old answered very matter-of-factly, failing to see the logic behind any of this.

Charlie knew better than to try to try to make any argument for sleeping longer, so sat up and assured Chuck that he was getting up. With that promise, Chuck took to the air again and dashed out of Charlie's room, followed again by the German Shepherd. It took Charlie a bit to get going this morning, his exhausted body arguing with his brain telling him it was better to rest than to go run around with three kids, but as usual, his brain won that battle. Within half an hour, Charlie was downstairs, and Chuck's antics had brought Melody down as well. Jamie, Charlie knew, wouldn't be up before 9 on a weekend if his life depended on it. By the time Chuck and Melody were ready for the day, Jamie was just climbing out of bed, at 9:30. Melody had, of course, dressed herself, and for a 2 year old, had done a better job than Charlie would have done. She was wearing a white shirt with frills, of course, a jean jacket, and jeans tucked into her emu boots. Chuck was wearing his favorite nikes, jeans, and, of course his Tim Tebow jersey which was a few sizes too large, but he didn't care over a white t-shirt. Charlie's kids always dressed themselves, and sometimes, you could really tell.

By the time Jamie was finally ready for the day, it was nearly 10:30 and time to head for the barn for Melody's riding lesson on her pony, Jimmy. Not that she really learned much of anything, but if she missed one lesson she would be mad as an angry little hornet. She loved her fat little black pony, and even though she just sat there while the pony plodded placidly around the arena, she thought it was the most fun thing in the entire world to do. The stable was only a few minutes away from the house, and as soon as the car was parked, Chuck and Jigsaw bounded out the door and disappeared while Jamie took a more relaxed take to getting out of the car, and Charlie got Melody out. Jamie wandered off on his own while Melody grabbed hold of Charlie's finger and pulled him down the aisle towards her precious pony's stall, chattering away about only god knows what. Today was just another day in Paradise.

Jamie
Chuck
Melody

[Kate Hudson]

" Good boy Jericho," smiled Kate as she jumped down off her towering horse ,and slipped the reins off from around his neck. The gelding happily nickered as she loosened his girth and she patted his stomach and smiled. Kate was beyond blessed to have a horse like him, and was glad her grandmother left her enough to purchase him when she did. After the accident with Jubilant, some say, and even Kate thought she would never get back into the saddle again. Now look at her. She held her crop in the crook of her arm and led him out of the ring and led him to the barn aisle. She heard the sound of children's voices and smiled. Kate loved children as much as she enjoyed teaching them. She held onto Jericho's reins in case he happened to jump at the noise.

She turned the corner, and saw two little kids dash around the corner and it made Jericho jump to the side. " Easy boy, it's okay," she cooed and patted his neck and looked at the kids. She walked up the center aisle and released Jericho while she reached over to grab his halter. Jericho perked up his ears and whinnied at the little girl and her father, and tossed his head. Kate smiled and patted his neck. She unhooked his bridle and carefully slipped it off and replaced it with his halter. After she finished removing his tack, she gave him a quick hose down, and led him into his stall to eat some hay. She looked over and saw two still there. She approached them and said, " Hi, I'm Kate."

[Charlie Parker]

It was really a good thing that Chuck and Jamie were so independent from Charlie. Melody moved at a much more manageable pace than Chuck did. Charlie could swear that Chuck didn't know how to walk anywhere. Everywhere he went he was running... no matter how many times Charlie told him he needed to walk around the horses, he just kept running like he was being chased by a pack of wolves. Sometimes he was sure that the kid had to be ADHD or something like that. He just kept going and going. Melody was more dependent. She had her moments when she went off and did her own thing, but for the time being, her age kept her fairly attached to her dad. Whenever they went anywhere outside of daycare or home, she tended to drag her dad with her everywhere she went.

Before going to get Jimmy, Melody pulled Charlie over to the stall of the large gray percheron thoroughbred cross, Atlas, Charlie's retired police horse. Charlie lifted her up and let her sit on the top of the half door, keeping one hand on her back to steady her, of course. The horse's head was just about as long from the end of his muzzle to the tips of his ears, as Melody was, but the big horse loved that little girl. He put his nose in her lap and and sighed heavily as she went about petting him and braiding his forelock. Charlie's focus was interrupted by someone approaching and introducing herself. He turned to face the woman, whose voice sounded vaguely familiar. When he turned to see her, he recognized her almost instantly. It had been a long time since he had seen her, but he definitely knew her.

He, on the other hand, had changed quite a bit. Now that he wasn't on such a strict police force, his formerly short hair had grown back out into the naturally tangled mess that it had been before he started working for the NYPD, and he was a tiny bit more scruffy looking this morning than usual. I know. he said with a smile, I seem to recall meeting you at a crosswalk at NYU when someone on a moped nearly ran you over about four years ago. The NYPD had been fairly unkind to Charlie during the two years that he had lived there, so much so that after his two year contract was up, he quit and moved back to Pinewood. The odds of her moving to Pinewood were quite slim. He had gotten to know her a little bit, though certainly not exceedingly well... he would have never expected to see here here, in Pinewood West Virginia.

[Kate Hudson]

Jericho whinnied to his stall buddy and tried to poke his nose through the bars to get some attention from the little girl. He whinnied again, and tossed his head and pawed the air. Kate laughed at her silly horse and leaned against the doorpost between the two stalls. She combed her fingers through her hair and smiled when he acknowledged that he remembered her. Come to think of it, now seeing him years later he started to look familiar. Minus the scruff, and the shaggy hair you'd get, " Charlie Parker," she smiled. Her smile got wider and she placed her hands on her sides. " Has it really been that long. Wow, how time flies. A lot has changed, you've changed, but in a good way I suppose if I'm not being too far forward."

She just had a flashback, and could remember that day. She had walked out of her literature class and was closing the street to go to her favorite diner. When all of the sudden out of nowhere comes a moped and it nearly runs her over, but a young policeman knocks her to the ground to get her out of the way. She looked up at him as he laid on top of her and she looked into his eyes. Later that evening, they had just one casual date of coffee and Thai food. Flashback ended and she closed her eyes and reopened. " So um, how have you been. I know it's been a while."

[Charlie Parker]

Melody had been so distracted by "her" horse that she hadn't realized there was a stranger present. When Charlie's attention shifted and was suddenly talking to someone who was not her, she turned away from the horse, and when she saw the stranger standing there she suddenly drew back like any shy two year old might. She wrapped her tiny arms around Charlie's arm, nestling her face into him and peaking out, as if she couldn't be seen now. She didn't even consider the fact that the only part of her that could now not be seen was about half of her face. Even if she was completely behind him, her fluffy blond curls would have probably given her away. She had clearly inherited her dad's hair and eyes.

Charlie couldn't help but smile, Well, it's been long enough for me to acquire three kids, so I'd say it's definitely been a while. Granted, only one of the three children was actually related to him by blood... but still. Three kids, three different dads, two different moms... what a track record Charlie had. He was apparently attracted to women with children. I've certainly been better, he said honestly, But I really can't complain. Life was stressful and it was by no means easy to get by with three kids and a full time job with mediocre pay, but he loved his kids, and he wouldn't give them up for anything. If he really thought about it, people were probably pretty skeptical of him... 25 years old with a 9 year old, 8 year old, and a 2 year old, and no wife or even girlfriend to speak of. The assumption was probably that they were his, which would mean that he fathered his first child when he was only 16, his second at 17, and his third at 23. Not exactly a good thing for people to be assuming, but he didn't care what people thought. His kids were his life, and they could assume all they wanted.

What in the world are you doing in Pinewood? he asked. She was one of the last people that he would have expected in Pinewood. She was a student at NYU when last he saw her, and when he left New York, he didn't expect to ever see her again. After all, how many people left New York City to move to a little tiny horse town in the middle of nowhere, with a population barely higher than the population of the south pole? Well, he had... so he didn't expect that anyone else ever would... you had to either be crazy or really motivated to get out. He was the latter, maybe she was the former?

[Kate Hudson]

What was she doing in Pinewood? There are so many reasons she could give to justify her being here. What had happened to her the past three or four years or so that landed her here in this one horse town. Being far away from everyone that she cared for and loved, people thought she was crazy, and maybe that was the case in some ways. She bit her lip and looked down, and scraped some dirt off her boots. Where would she begin to tell Charlie? She hardly knew him, but would he care for the extended version of her story, or short and straight to the point? She looked back up at him and shrugged, " Sometimes I ask myself that very same question. It's a long story,"she said and rubbed Atlas' nose gently and shot Charlie a quick smile and looked at Melody.

Between getting into NYU, being swept off her feet by Charlie, and now a lot happened to get her to Pinewood. She sometimes regretted leave her mother behind in South Carolina, but knew that it was for the best. What played a large part in her decision was her father. Her father wasn't a big part in her life when she was growing up, so it didn't effect her to be far from him. Every now and then, he would call or send an email or card, but she wouldn't get too excited to hear from him. Another deciding factor was the incident at the Budweiser Invitational in West Virginia two years ago. It was the biggest humiliation of her life, and not to mention it was televised. Jubilant ended up having to be put down because the owners just couldn't stand having a damaged horse in there stables,and they also blamed Kate for the whole thing. The next day, she packed her things and moved, and found a stable manager position at Pinewood. At least here, she is able to be at peace and not have to constantly think about the past that she wished to escape.

She looked at Melody and gave her a gentle smile, " You look like a natural on Atlas. Do you ride?" Melody looked a lot like Charlie, and she wanted to ask if she was his, but didn't want to trespass on his private life unless he wanted to be open about it.

[Charlie Parker]

Charlie could remember the day he met Kate quite well. He wasn't usually one for tackling people... but it just so happened that he had been stuck on traffic crossing on that particular day. He was not happy about it either. There was nothing worse than being a crossing guard... especially during rush hour... someone always almost ran you over. It wouldn't have mattered if he had been dressed up at a 10 foot Christmas tree, someone would have nearly hit him. He had already been on duty for four hours and was just about ready to kill himself, or the next dumbass college student who made some snarky remark about policemen so he could hear it. Every time someone complained about cops he just wanted to deck them... and tell them that if they wouldn't act like incompetent morons with a lack of common decency and break the law, they wouldn't have any reason to hate the cops... for protecting the world from idiots like them. Of course, he never did... he would be fired for sure if he did that.

Needless to say he had been in a fairly foul mood at that point, so when he stepped out and stopped traffic for the students just getting out of class to cross, he was ready to fine the first person whose bumper cross the crosswalk line big time. When a moped came zipping around the corner and nearly mowed down a few students, he was quick to react, and moved to hastily push one who appeared distracted enough to not react quickly enough herself. His plan had been to pull her out of the way, but he wasn't quite fast enough to do so without being caught by the moped just enough to lose his balance himself... and subsequently ended up knocking her to the ground. Luckily for her, he had the good sense to cushion her fall with his own arms so as to prevent her being injured.

That night had consisted of a lot of painkillers, and a date... of sorts... then going back to the station after dropping her off and looking up the license plate of the idiot who had nearly run over more than one person. Sometimes, having photographic memory was a wonderful thing... sometimes. It wasn't difficult finding them, and after doing so, he served them up a nice hefty fine for reckless driving, pedestrian endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, failing to stop, and assaulting an officer. They, of course, bitched and moaned, but he wasn't having any of it, and when he told them that they could either accept and pay the fine or he would find other charges to tack onto it, they stopped complaining and took it. Such a satisfying feeling. That had been a long long time ago, though.

When she said it was a long story, he just nodded, Seems to be a bit of a recurring theme around here. He said in response. Pinewood was apparently a place to go when you had a complicated something or other to get away from. Having grown up here, it was only natural for Charlie to return, but the circumstances that lead up to his return were just as complicated as any. Small towns tended to be a good place to go after living in the big city where lite was infinitely more complex than it was in a little horse town with just a few people who mostly just minded their own business. Of course, he was incredibly glad to be here now... he wouldn't have Jamie, Chuck, or Melody if he had stayed in New York, and even though children complicated life, it was much easier here than it had been there.

Rather than responding to the address to her, Melody just nestled her face into Charlie's arm shyly. Charlie smiled and shook his head, I can never get her to stop talking until someone she doesn't know comes around. he said of Melody, This is Melody, the youngest of my three. I'd introduce you to the other two, but I'm sure I don't even want to know where they are or what they're doing right now. The two boys were sometimes more trouble than most would consider them worth, but no matter how many times the two of them did something to get themselves into trouble, Charlie couldn't help but love them.

[Kate Hudson]

The day that she first met Charlie, it was by total accident, and it was awkward to say the least. She wasn't on her cellphone, or listening to her ipod. She was reading over some notes for an extracurricular class she was taking when she crossed the street with several other students. Out of nowhere, she is knocked to the ground, and her notes went a flying. They both laid there in the middle of the street, his hand resting behind her head, and his warm breath kissed her face. She looked up at him, his gaze locked on hers. She swallowed a lump in her throat and pressed her hand to his chest. Her heart pounded just like his in her chest. She added more pressure, and she slowly got up and looked around. She snapped back up and quickly gathered her notes frantically.

Kate chuckled at his comment, " Well we are all nomads here, I suppose. One moment we set up roots to stay, then the next we drift to the wind to find a new home. I like it here in Pinewood, it's quiet, and it moves at it's own pace." What she didn't tell him was troubled past that led her here. He didn't need to know, and wasn't here to seek his pity. Jericho poked his head out through the half door and nudged Kate, she smiled placing her hand on his neck, and stroking his shaving fur. "It is very nice to meet you Melody, and I don't blame you for being shy," and she smiled.

[Charlie Parker]

I can understand that. He said when she sort of explained why she had come to Pinewood, It's definitely a lot easier going than New York He added, knowing all too well how fantastic it had felt almost the moment he came back. It was such a quiet town and relaxing. He didn't have to work as a crossing guard, he didn't have mounds of paperwork every night, he had an actual house, he had a family to go home to... everything about coming home to Pinewood was better. I grew up here, Charlie said with a nod, The academy I went to was here, moved to a bigger city a few years ago. He wasn't quite sure why he felt the need to bring that up, but he had... probably because he was more used to people asking him what he was doing in Pinewood. It wasn't too often that a little town like this got new people, especially ones who seemed to have so many connections here.

He lifted Melody up off the half door that she was sitting on and set her on the ground. She transfered her grip on his arm to his leg immediately. Why don't you go get Jimmy, Mel? he asked, she only gripped his pant leg tighter and hid behind him more. Charlie sighed and knelt down beside her, I'll bet he's been waiting for you all day, you don't want to let him down do you? Melody shook her head, Well go on then. He said giving her a little push in the direction of Jimmy's pen. She took a couple of steps, glanced behind her back at the adults, then ran off to go get her pony. No sooner had she disappeared around the corner, than Chuck came racing around the corner still followed closely by the large German Shepherd. Upon seeing Charlie and Kate standing there, he came skidding to a halt only a little bit out of breath. "Daddy I found it!" He exclaimed, overflowing with enthusiasm, "I don't know what it is, but it's sooooo cool!"

Hardly waiting a split second, and not giving Charlie a chance to respond, he turned to Kate and stuck his hand out towards her. "I'm Chuck." He said fearlessly. Shy was not a word Chuck understood the meaning of. "and this is my dog, Jigsaw, and that's Jamie, he's slow." He indicated, pointing to Jamie who had just made an appearance, but made no effort to introduce himself and just stood back a bit, a mildly suspicious look on his face. While Jamie wasn't shy either, he just didn't trust people. He was an incredibly intelligent child, but sometimes that intelligence caused him to be excessively wary of people. Chuck looked like he, too, could be related to Charlie, but not Jamie. They were an odd conglomeration of people to be in a family. Dysfunctional, but somehow perfect.

[Kate Hudson]

" I grew up in a town slightly bigger than this, so I'm not so homesick. I went to NYU to get away from...well I went there to start a new life, and to step out of the small town hype. I guess I missed it too much." She watched her words carefully for fear of being judged for her past. She nervously bit her lip and combed her fingers through her hair. She chuckled in agreement," Yes, it certainly is a lot easier than New York. No one to run you over with a moped," and she smiled at that memory. She looked down at Melody and watched her go towards the direction of her pony. She looked back at Charlie and said, " Hey Charlie, would you like to..." but she was cut off by the sound of a boy and a large German Shepard running in their direction. Soon after, another boy came up behind him. Two more of Charlie's kids perhaps?

Kate smiled at the child's enthusiasm and reached out her hand to shake his. " I'm Kate. Glad to meet you Chuck," she said and smiled. She admired his fearlessness to walk up to her and introduce himself. She scratched Jigsaw behind his ear and patted his back. " It's nice to meet you to Jamie."

[Charlie Parker]

It was rather interesting seeing how three children all brought up by the same man could turn out so differently. Jamie was quiet and rarely spoke to anyone, but when he did, everything he said was so... grown up and intelligent. Chuck was not quiet and was almost always bouncing off the walls and said just about everything that popped into his head whether he should have or not. Melody was a little chatterbox whenever she was around people she knew, but as shy as could be the moment a stranger stepped into the room. None of them were really much like Charlie when he was a kid. He had been a good kid... until about middle school when he started spending a significant amount of time with Sebastian... then he had turned into a rebel child and drove his parents insane. To this day they still disliked Sebastian.

Chuck grinned broadly when she shook his hand. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. Chuck said proudly, to which Charlie could only shake his head. For an 8 year old, Chuck had a very impressive vocabulary. He'd been reading since he was two and always had a certain fascination with words. He often asked Charlie for a big word so he could go look it up in the dictionary, and would find some way or another to use it soon after. Charlie had started out giving him words that were pretty common, but that a young kid might not know, but before long, Chuck grew bored with those words and wanted the really big ones that weren't so common. He was a smart kid, and he could talk like a miniature adult if he really wanted to. "That's my daddy, he's a cop. That's kind of like a super hero." Chuck was kind of like Charlie's biggest fan.

Jamie said nothing when she addressed him, but he never looked away from her. It was like he was studying her every move, sometimes Charlie swore Jamie could see right through people and read their thoughts. Losing both of his parents before he turned 10 had been devastating, and there was no telling what it had really done to him. He never talked about his parents or anything that mildly related to them. It was as if he was making up for losing them by filling his mind with knowledge of other people. Charlie decided against bringing it up, partly because he was worried that Jamie might completely shut him out even more than he already had and cause a whole mess of problems, so he just let it be.

Why don't you boys go check on your sister and make sure she hasn't been captured by bandits? Charlie asked the boys. Jigsaw will save her! Chuck shouted then took off like a shot, followed by the dog and Jamie, finally leaving the adults without children to work around. Sorry about him, Charlie said with a smile when they had gone. I think he might be an adult in an 8 year old's body. There were times that Chuck could be a little overbaring, but you couldn't help but love him... if he ever held still long enough for anyone to get to know him.

[Kate Hudson]

Judging by how Chuck was acting, she thought Charlie did a good job at raising him. She smiled, " Cops are superheros. They just hide their cape under their uniform,"she whispered into his ear and smiled at his big smile. She watched the kids run off to see their sister, and she stood back up again. She brushed the dirt off her pants and shook her head, " He's delightful. You raised him up good Charlie," and she smiled. She looked at her watch, " I actually have a lesson in a couple of minutes. You're welcome to watch if you don't have anything else to do. I'll see you around Charlie."

Kate turned and walked down the aisle of the barn and folded her hands together and sighed. She blushed, and felt her cheeks get warm. Calm down Kate, she thought and walked to the ring where a little six year old was getting on his pony.