Where do we go from here?

Chapter 1

Two months. Joey had suffered through two months of pain, sorrow, heartache and loneliness. She had spent her days working harder than any of her fellow crewmates in the hope that she would be too tired every night to dream. But every night she was cursed with seeing Charlie, again and again, in Hugo's arms. The images traveling through these dreams always had her waking in a cold sweat and her cheeks wet with tears.

But something had changed this night. Hugo was no where to be seen within this dream. It was simply a darkness that held nothing but stillness. Joey stood within the middle of this place waiting for something ….anything…. to happen. Suddenly a gunshot sounded in the distance and a small light shown pierced through the blackness. When Joey began to hear the sickening sound of a fist hitting flesh, she ran. Something inside telling her that she needed to reach them….that she needed to help. The light began to go in and out with the sound of each hit, but with and a whispered word Joey was thrust from the dream and brought back to the reality that she was on a boat in the middle of the night far way from any street fight. Shaken from the dream, the only thing that kept running through her mind was the sound of that whispered word……

Joey

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Ruby waited with Leah and Aden at the pier for Joey to arrive. Aden had look at the pier logs to find out when the trawler was due back so that they could be there to greet her. She knew that someone needed to be there even if the person that Joey wanted to be there couldn't. Ruby had missed Joey, and as she watched the trawler tie off to the pier she felt a sudden jolt of anticipation. A woman that she considered to be a close as her own sister was coming home, and for Ruby it didn't come at a moment to soon.

Joey looked up to the boat house as he stepped from her three month floating home. Her heart jumped to see three of the closest people in her life standing waiting for her. But the one face that she longed for, the face that had haunted to first two months of her journey was not among them. If the dreams that cursed her in the beginning, making her life miserable, than the final weeks of nothing had made her life a living hell. She had thought that if she forgot about Charlie than she could move on, but when she had felt the presence of the woman she loved start slipping away she prayed to return to her and find that connection again.

Now she was home and a seconded chance was within her grasp. She had not forgotten what Charlie had done, nor had she completely forgiven her yet. There was a lot that they had to get through to even get back to where they were before. But, if nothing else, the three months way had taught Joey that she would rather go through the pain and anguish of fixing their problems, than try to live through to hell that existed when Charlie wasn't with her.

Joey rushed to the top of the pier to reach her friends waiting there. As soon as she was able she dropped her bags and pulled Ruby into a hug. "Ruby, oh God, I have missed you so much!" At first she was lost in the sensation of holding someone that she considered family after so long without the comfort of having them there, but she soon felt the shudders from the girl that she held.

"Ruby, don't cry. I'm back, its ok." When Ruby's grip only tightened around her, Joey looked up to see that the other two also had tears running down their faces. "What's going on? Why are all of you guys crying?"

Leah spoke up with the voice that only a mother could manage. "Joey some things have happened while you were away. Some things that you need to know about." Leah seemed to be struggling to find the right thing to say. Finally she simply stated, "Its Charlie."

Joey's heart immediately dropped at the sound of Charlie's name. Something was terribly wrong. She could feel it…sense it. She pulled the still sniffling girl away and searched her eyes for the answer. "Ruby, please tell me what is going on."

Between her sobs, Ruby was able to mutter a few broken sentences. "Charlie's in…. the hospital, Joey. She….. has been….. for the last month. That's why she's….. not here. She's….she's in a coma."