Hi everyone. This is just a random one shot based on yet another idea for how our wonderful Joey can come back and steal Charlie's heart. It's set after Tuesday's Home and Away (UK) where Angelo throws all his toys out of the pram about living arrangements and Ruby tells him that the only partner Charlie has ever lived with is Joey. I'm still catching up with the show so I have no idea what actually happens next but this was my little idea. Enjoy! IJKS xxx

Home

Angelo looked at his watch. Charlie's shift was due to be over in a couple of minutes, unless she opted to do overtime, which was fairly likely. Still, he pulled himself out of his seat and headed out of the Surf Club and over to the house his girlfriend shared with Leah and VJ. Ruby had given him a lot to think about and that meant he had a lot more to say, although he feared that it would break his relationship instead of making it better. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Angelo!" Charlie said in surprise when she saw him standing there looking anxious.

After the day they'd had, she hadn't been expecting to see him. He was angry with her and he was hurt that she felt unable to take their relationship further by living together. Part of her was desperate to shake herself out of it. She didn't want to lose him over it but at the same time, she didn't want to push herself into something she wasn't ready for. She knew only too well exactly what happened when she tried to force things that she couldn't cope with. Less than a year ago, she'd lost the love of her life because she'd tried to be out and proud when she didn't feel able.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"Sure," she said a little uncertainly. "Sure."

She stepped aside and let him in, offering him coffee and busying herself in the kitchen in an anxious bid to do the opposite of what he wanted. He looked so serious and that could never bode well for their relationship. He watched from his chair as she fussed with coffee and sugar and finally, she came to sit beside him, trying and failing to meet his gaze.

"You've lived with a partner before," he said.

She looked up sharply, her body becoming tense immediately, meeting his gaze by accident.

"What?" she managed.

"You've lived with a partner before," he repeated. "You lived with Joey. So why can't you live with me?"

"Well, Joey and I worked out so well," she said with a hint of bitter sarcasm. "Why on earth do you think I wouldn't want to live with someone else so quickly?"

She looked down at the table and sipped her coffee, even though it was still too hot. She let the liquid burn her lips and set it down again.

"Why won't you live with me?" he asked. "Why does it provoke such a strong reaction of panic?"

"I've told you," she said. "I'm not ready. I can't force it Angelo. You're not being fair."

"I'm not being fair?" he exclaimed bitterly. "What about you?"

"I'm just trying to be honest about how I feel," she said, feeling like she sounded like a broken record. "I care for you, Angelo. I want to be with you. I'm just not ready to set up home together. It's too soon."

"Six months, nearly," he pointed out.

"And that doesn't seem like a rush to you?" she asked.

"It's your longest relationship length according to Ruby."

She blanched.

"What, you and Rubes have been talking about me behind my back, have you?" she accused.

"I bumped into her in the Surf Club. She said you never stayed with anyone for longer than six months and that the only partner you've ever lived with was Joey. She said, 'look how far she went to screw that up'."

Charlie sighed and closed her eyes. She didn't think she'd ever stop feeling ashamed of how things had gone with her ex. And now she fretted over what Ruby thought of her. She'd been surprised by her daughter's support of her relationship with Angelo the night before. Silence fell between her and her boyfriend.

"So, you were happy to live with the infamous Joey but not with me," Angelo accused.

"That was different."

"Why?"

"We lived together before we started dating," Charlie explained. "She moved in because she was homeless and broken and needed someone to take care of her. It wasn't the same thing as living with someone I was seeing. It just... It wasn't."

She sipped her coffee again, grateful that it was a little cooler. Angelo mirrored her actions.

"Did you panic?" he asked. "Did you panic when you lived with her as a couple?"

"I think it's safe to say I did!" Charlie snapped. "Do you not remember the end of that particular story?"

"You panicked because she was a woman," Angelo pointed out. "Not because you were living together. Not because things were really serious between you."

Charlie swallowed. She couldn't deny it. The idea of living with Joey hadn't bothered at all. Even as quickly as everything had happened, it had all felt so natural and right between them.

"You were happy to live with her," Angelo continued. "Weren't you?"

Charlie just shrugged. She didn't want to talk about Joey. It hurt too much. And she certainly didn't care to discuss her ever-present feelings for her ex-girlfriend with her current boyfriend. That didn't feel right at all.

"Weren't you?" he said more urgently.

"Fine," she snapped. "Yes. I was happy to live with her. So what? I told you. It was different."

Angelo nodded and sipped more of his drink.

"Would you have stayed living with her? After the six month mark, would you have stayed together?" Angelo asked

"How on earth am I meant to know?" she asked.

"Would you?"

"I don't know!"

"Would you?" he demanded.

"I don't know!" she yelled.

"Would you?"

"Yes!" she admitted desperately. "Yes. If we'd have survived, I would have lived with her. I would have married her. I would have had kids with her. Is that what you want to hear, Angelo? Is that the right answer?"

They glared at each other across the kitchen table.

"You never tell me you love me," he said after a few moments.

She snapped her head back up and looked at him questioningly.

"What? Of course I do," she lied.

"You don't. You've referred me as someone you love. You've told me you care deeply for me. You've said that you love being with me. But you've never said 'I love you'."

She swallowed and shifted in her seat.

"Did you say it to Joey?" he asked.

She stood, exasperated and began to pace.

"What on earth does that have to do with anything?" she asked desperately.

Her breathing became shallower and she struggled with all the emotions pounding at her heart.

"Did you tell her you loved her?" Angelo demanded angrily, also rising.

"Yes!" she said. "Again, is that what you want to hear? I told her I loved her. Why does any of this matter? What has my past relationship got to do with me not wanting to move in with you?"

"Because you lived with her! You loved her! You did everything with her that you've never done with me! I thought after everything happened with Ruby that you were really letting me in," Angelo shouted. "I thought you loved me! I thought you wanted to be with me but you haven't opened up any more than before, Charlie! You've always held me at arms length. You just hid it better!"

"I've been open with you!" Charlie argued. "I've been everything you wanted! I don't understand why you're being like this!"

"Because I'll never be what you want," he told her, his voice cracking with emotion. "Will I?"

She stared at him tearfully.

"I'll never be Joey," he said, sitting back down again. "No matter what I do, you'll never commit to me because you're still in love with her and you have been for our entire relationship."

"No, I..." Charlie tried.

She sank back into her own seat and gripped her coffee cup tightly.

"I asked you that time in the hospital what you'd do when Joey came back," he said. "And now I know the answer."

He stood and left her alone.

The evening rolled around and Charlie was feeling low and confused. She'd replayed the argument with Angelo over and over in her mind. Sinking onto her bed, she opened her bedside drawer and pulled out a photo hidden in the back. She smiled at Joey's beautiful face. She tried not to think about her anymore. She rarely looked at the photo these days. To think of Joey and their lost love was too painful. It hurt. She furiously wiped tears away and dropped the picture. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out her phone and scrolled down to the phone number she'd never deleted. She pressed send and put the mobile to her ear. It didn't ring but instead switched straight to voicemail.

"Hey there, this is Joey. I'm not able to take your call right now because I'm sailing out in the deep, blue sea but the moment I get reception, I'll get back to you."

Joey's voice sang out with such cheer that Charlie burst into tears. She listened to the beep and attempted to gather herself together.

"Hey um... Joey... it's... it's Charlie. I don't know if and when you'll get this message and I... I wouldn't expect you to return it but um... I just..."

She sighed heavily.

"I needed to tell you that I love you. It's been nine months nearly. It's actually approaching the anniversary of when we first met but um... well, I guess you're not coming home. You said you'd be back in three months and we could try again but I suppose you changed your mind."

She attempted to swallow the aching lump in her throat.

"I don't blame you. I... Well, why would you come back really, after everything I did? But uh... yeah, I just... I wanted to say I love you. I'll always love you. And um... well, I hope you're okay. I hope that..."

The lump in her throat ached even harder.

"I hope that your beautiful soul is living a beautiful life, Joey. You deserve it."

The beep cut her off. Charlie quickly hung up and flopped back against her pillows, sobbing and feeling completely out of control of her emotions.

Two days later, Joey stepped onto land. Her boat was docking for a few days and then she was due to get back on board. She liked her life and her work. It calmed her to be out at sea and living and working with a small, male crew, meant that love didn't complicate her world. She liked existing by herself, being in control of her own destiny. It was better for her to be alone. Getting her land legs, she pulled out her phone and checked for messages. Brett would occasionally call and see how she was and she always called him back in a bid to forgive the way he'd wrecked her life. She'd received a couple of texts from Aden and a few school friends over the last nine months since she'd left the Bay. Her phone beeped. She had a voice mail. Assuming it was from Brett, Joey listened. She blanched when she heard Charlie's tearful voice in her ear. Listening to the message twice through, she finally hung up and stepped back on board the boat. Locating her boss below deck, she looked and felt a little nervous.

"I've um... I've got to jump ship," she said.

"What?"

"I'm going to pack up and head off," she told him. "Sorry it's so sudden."

"Why?" he asked.

He'd assumed that Joey was a lifer.

"I have to go home," she told him.