Finding Charlie Rose

One year later

Charlie had been with her brothers and uncle for a year and it was leading up to Christmas time and the anniversary of Sally's death. Charlie still slept with her brothers each night but when she was sick or sad she sought out Sam for comfort. When she had started going to the crèche she managed to pick up every little bug which was going around which meant she clung to Sam.

Sam didn't mind at all, he loved the time with his sister and teased his brothers and his uncle about being her favourite. Charlie loved all her brothers but there was a special bond with Sam, everybody could see it. She had attached herself to Sam first and that attachment hadn't wavered at all. She had a different connection with each brother, Liam was the person she went to when she was hungry and if she wanted a shower because he would dance with her. Oliver was who she went to when she wanted to play, he always played with Charlie and let her lead the games. Byron was the brother to go to when she wanted to draw or paint, the two would spend hours together painting.

Shane, Taylor and Damien had brought a place closer to be around Charlie and their family. They would spend weekends together as a family. John knew that Sally would be happy that the family rallied around Charlie and that her little girl was happy. The house was full of laughter once again and that brought a smile to John's face. He spent most of the time between the two houses. He would stay with his sons and his nephews especially to help with Charlie. He wanted his nephews to have lives of their own. He wanted his nephews to find partners and have children if they wanted although none of them were in relationships as they just wanted to spend as much time with Charlie as they could making up for the years they had lost.

Shane and Taylor had offered for Charlie to have sleepovers but that would never happen according to Sam and Liam. Damian had spent a few nights a month having sleepovers with Charlie at her place as they liked watching movies together.

Sam and Liam worked together in the firm as equal partners. Sam headed the women's centre focusing more on helping women and children while Liam liked the criminal side of the firm which was now booming thanks to Liam's reputation in court. That made the perfect set-up to both run the firm together. The women's centre has taken on 14 clients in the first 3 months of opening, they were referred to them by the shelter their mother had used.

Byron had passed uni that year with flying colours and was helping out at the centre in his free time as well and so was Oliver. Oliver loved his job and continued to work with Ross as a personal trainer. He took Charlie with him twice a week and she would sleep on his chest in the beginning but as she got older she dropped her sleep during the day which was sad for Oliver as he loved his sister being so close. Oliver and Charlie would always have lunch with Ross when she was at the gym. Ross even got his own nickname which was Roo. Ross didn't mind at all. He often went around for dinner to spend time with them all and became part of the family.

Maree still lived with her grandsons and granddaughters. She helped to take care of Charlie when she was home and adored that little girl. Her husband had attempted to take Charlie threatening court action to get access to his granddaughter, but once Maree filed paperwork for her divorce with the allegations of abuse he dropped off the face of the earth and hadn't been heard of since. Charlie and Maree spent time cooking and baking together which is what Charlie did with her mum. Both enjoyed that time together and they had a special bond. Mrs Harper also helped care for Charlie and she earned the nickname H. H would help Charlie with writing and numbers as Charlie was a smart little girl.

The thing with Charlie was if she liked you, you got a nickname, if she didn't like you, she tried to avoid you which is what happened when Byron introduced Charlie to a girl he was dating. It only lasted a few weeks but Charlie didn't like her and it turned out she was right. The girl turned out to be a little crazy. Charlie was still worried about people leaving her but she was getting better. She did have some separation anxiety but not as bad as when she first arrived.

Charlie would be starting preschool in the new year with Levi and she was excited to be seeing Levi three days a week. Levi and Charlie were good friends and spent weekends playing at the park much to her brother's dismay. Charlie didn't like playing with the girls but followed Levi everywhere. Levi was protective of Charlie and would scare other boys away from playing with her. John thought it was cute and Levi even spent the day with Charlie at the house for her birthday. Shelly had even asked Maree to watch Levi when she was called into work last minute which Charlie loved as much as Levi did. They even fell asleep and snuggled together. The boys didn't like that one bit and Byron rushed home from uni to separate the pair but was stopped by Mrs Harper and John. Shelly had also offered to take Charlie if they needed a break which never happened. All her brothers adored spending time with Charlie and they had in fact created a roster system for her to sleep with each one because she had dropped her day sleep.

Sam and Liam were preparing for the firm's Christmas party again. This time it was going to be a family-friendly affair so staff could bring their children. It was mainly so they could bring Charlie along. She had visited the office several times and had made friends with some of the staff. Sam and Liam had had to take Charlie to work several times when she had a cold and Oliver couldn't take her to the crèche, but Charlie liked spending time with her brothers and pretending to be the boss like they were. She even got her own chair behind the big desk.

Charlie still took her worm everywhere with her but had stopped sucking her thumb unless she was really tired or unwell. She had grown up a lot in the year with her brothers and they had grown up too. Thanks to Charlie they had also grown as a family and were closer than ever. They still missed their mother immensely but knew she would be proud of the men they became because they were nothing like the monster she had been married to.