A NEW BEGINNING
This was my first attempt at a FanFic and was first posted on the H&A Message Boards a few months ago. I have made a few alterations (mostly to the start), but it's basically the same story as originally posted.
The setting: 15 months after Joey left
Angelo has just opened his restaurant, working hard to prove himself, believing that everything is running smoothly in both his life and work, while remaining completely oblivious to the rising tension between Charlie and him since their brief falling out over Indi providing the booze for Ruby from Angelo's.
So what will happen when Charlie discovers that Joey is back?
Responding to a call at the docks, Charlie stops in her tracks when she catches a glimpse of a familiar figure.
- Charlie, you coming?
- Just a minute, Watson.
Looking around, Charlie can't see anyone about
- Must have imagined it
- Imagined what?
- Oh nothing. Come on, let's go and sort out this complaint.
Having managed to successfully avoid Charlie and her friends since returning over a month ago, Joey decides that she can no longer continue to hide. While not yet ready to make direct contact with Charlie, Joey starts to visit the new restaurant, a place she noticed Charlie visited a lot.
Eating alone for the third day in row, Joey looks up as the man who runs the place, Angelo she assumes, comes over to her table.
- You're new in town, aren't you?
- Not really. I grew up here, but I left for a while and only just came back last month
- Well, I'm Angelo
- Joey.
- So this is your place?
- My pride and joy.
As they talk, neither notice when Charlie walks into the restaurant. Seeing Angelo talking to a woman whose back was to her, Charlie heads straight over.
- Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but Angelo, could I talk to you for a moment?
At the sound of the voice behind her, Joey stiffens, before she slowly turns around to look into the face that had haunted her dreams for over a year.
- Hello Charlie
- Joey, what are you doing here!
- I missed you
- You two know each other?
A bewildered Angelo asks, before suddenly remembering where he had heard the name Joey before.
- This is your Joey?
He demands to know, blood running down his arm from the glass he had just crushed in his hand. Charlie, looking like a roo in headlights, is still unable to believe that Joey is sitting there right in front of her. All of the guilt she had felt for the pain she caused Joey come flooding back, as do her feelings for her. Overwhelmed by the emotions, Charlie panics.
- Angelo, we'll have to talk later, I just remembered I have a meeting at work.
- Charlie
Joey calls out to her as Charlie bolts from the restaurant. Turning her attention back to Angelo, Joey notices the blood on Angelo.
- You're bleeding
- Huh?
Angelo looks down, finally feeling the pain in his hand from where the glass has cut him. Completely unaware of Angelo's relationship with Charlie, Joey offers to take him to the hospital. Sensing a chance to find out Joey's intentions toward Charlie, Angelo accepts.
Sitting in her car, with a rising panic that starts to build within her, Charlie is finding it difficult to breathe, and in her state of shock, fails to notice as Joey and Angelo leave together.
As Joey drives Angelo to the hospital, they continue to talk, Joey still unaware of who Angelo is.
- So, how did you cut your hand?
- I guess I wasn't paying attention when I picked up the glass and squeezed too hard. You said you had been gone for a while.
- Yeah. Things got really bad last year for me, and with one thing after another, I just had to get away. But I couldn't stay away any longer and so I came back.
- You have family here?
- A brother, but we didn't part on the best of terms.
- He the reason you came back, to make things right with him?
- He's one of the reasons I came back.
- What's the other?
- There's someone else I came back for. You know, you sound like a cop, with all these questions
- I used to be a cop
- Is that how you know Charlie?
- We used to work together
- So you went from being a cop to owning a restaurant, that's one hell of a change.
- I got sick of being a cop, so I quit and followed my dream to open a restaurant
- I take you know Charlie quite well then?
- You could say that. You and Charlie were close, I take it?
- Charlie was there for me at a real bad time in my life. We weren't together for very long, but I've never been able to forget her, no matter how hard I tried. The Bay's my home, and I missed it and Brett, but I had to come back to see if there was any chance that Charlie and I could make it work.
- Even after all this time? What if she's found someone else?
- I don't know. If she's truly happy, then I'll probably have to accept that I missed my chance. But if there's even the slightest chance that she still loves me, then I'll do whatever I can to get her back.
- You can drop me off here; I can make my way up to the hospital.
- Sure. Good luck, it was nice meeting.
- You too Joey.
Joey, unaware of how her words have affected Angelo, drives away as he watches her drive away, his anger and jealously having grown with every word, no longer feeling the pain in his hand.
Later that day, Joey is walking along the beach, no longer worried about being seen, when she sees a disconsolate looking Ruby sitting alone.
- Hey Ruby, you ok?
- Joey, when did you get back? Come here, you
Ruby jumps up, giving Joey a hug.
- It's good to see you again Ruby
- Are you back for good?
- Yeah, I got a job at the docks again. You don't look so good, what's up?
- My life sucks
- It can't be that bad
- Don't count on it. I've made a complete fool of myself with a guy I really like
- I know what that feels like. Ruby, everyone makes a fool of themselves at some time and if this guy makes you feel stupid about it, he's not worth knowing.
- He was actually quite nice about, which only made it worse.
- What does Charlie think about all this?
- She doesn't know
- Why not, I thought you guys talked about everything
- Yeah, well things have changed a lot since you've been gone.
- They can't have changed that much
- Want to bet, for one thing, Charlie's not my sister
- What!
- She's my mother.
- You're kidding!
- Yeah, I just found out last year.
- How?
- It's a long, sordid story, one I don't like talking about
- Look Ruby, I know that despite these massive changes in your relationship, Charlie loves you and you should talk to her about this.
- It's not the same talking to her now as when she was my sister and she's so wrapped up with Angelo, I don't think she even cares what I do anymore
- Angelo? The guy from the restaurant?
- Yeah, her boyfriend, the wonderful Angelo
- Boyfriend? Funny how he forgot to mention that before.
- You've met him?
- I was talking to him at his restaurant when Charlie walked in. Neither of them said anything about being a couple.
- You probably caught them off guard.
- have they been together long?
- That depends on whether you count all the times they've broken up
- So they've had a lot of problems?
- You know Charlie, she sucks at relationships, I mean, you experienced that for yourself
- Ruby, I've got to get back home, but if you ever need someone to talk to, you know where to find me.
- thanks Joey. I'm glad you're back, I missed.
- I missed you too Ruby. I'll see you later
Later that evening, Angelo returns home with his hand in a bandage to find Charlie and a romantic dinner waiting for him.
- What's the occasion?
He asks a nervous looking Charlie
- do we need an occasion to have a romantic dinner?
- Just curious. I thought maybe it had something to do with your ex-girlfriend coming back to town
- Of course it doesn't. Joey and I are well and truly over. I just thought I would prepare a nice romantic dinner, but I guess it was a bad idea
- So seeing Joey again didn't bring back any of your old feelings for her?
- Absolutely not.
- You sure seemed in a hurry to get away from her
- I had to get back to work, I told you that. Angelo, Joey is in the past, I'm with you now, aren't I? What happened to your hand?
- Surprised you noticed. I cut it at work. Charlie, sometimes I wonder if you love me at all.
- I've told you that I love you, what else do you want from me?
- Move in here with me
- I'm not ready for that, especially with the way my relationship with Ruby is at the moment.
- You always have an excuse. First it's your commitment issues and now you're using your own daughter to avoid moving in with me.
- It's not an excuse. Ruby and I have always been close, and this past year has really put a strain on our relationship. We need to sort things out between us and I'm worried that if I move in with you that she will feel as if I'm abandoning her completely.
- Who are you trying to convince Charlie, me or yourself? I'm going for a walk
- Angelo!
Charlie is left alone, her romantic intentions in ruins, her doubts once again returning. If she truly loved him, why can't she take the next step, why does she feel as if she has spent the last year just trying to convince herself that she loves Angelo, because despite what she told him, seeing Joey again did bring back all her old feelings, as strong as ever.
Despite what happened the day before, and now knowing who Angelo is, Joey once again have lunch at Angelo's.
- How's your hand?
- It's fine. Thanks for taking me to the hospital, you didn't have to do that.
- Why didn't you tell me who you were?
- I didn't know who you were at first and when I finally realised, I admit that I was curious about you, so I didn't tell you who I was because I thought you might be more open about you and Charlie
- Charlie and I are old news. Angelo, you can relax, now that I know my chance with Charlie is gone, you have nothing to worry from me; I have no interest in coming between a couple, that's not my style.
- Ouch, I take it there are still some hurt feelings about Charlie screwing Hugo behind your back. I'd hate it if someone cheated on me, but Charlie and I are so in love and meant for each other that I know that I never have to worry about her ever cheating on me. In fact, we're even moving in together.
- Make sure she picks up her clothes off the floor, I was forever tripping over them when we lived together.
Joey says, feeling some satisfaction when Angelo loses his smug smile as the reminder that she was Charlie's live-in lover.
- Charlie's a wonderful woman, she's going to make a fantastic mother when we start a family together
- Isn't she already a mother?
- Who Ruby, she doesn't count.
- Charlie might see that a bit differently
- I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that Ruby's a teenager, she hardly needs a mother.
- Right. Can I get my lunch to go?
- Sure. It was nice talking to you again Joey, and lunch is on me, as a thank you for taking me to the hospital.
- Thanks.
Taking her lunch parcel, Joey walks away muttering to herself
- What an arrogant jerk.
Two days after seeing Ruby on the beach, Joey opens her door to find her standing on the doorstep.
- You said I could come to you if I needed to talk to someone.
- Of course, Ruby. Come in. So what's the problem?
- Everything
- It can't be that bad
- Charlie's pissed at me for getting drunk, Indi's mad at me for lying to her about the booze so there's no one I can talk to, except you.
- Charlie's always been there when you needed to talk to her before
- She could care less about anyone who's name isn't Angelo
- I find that hard to believe, Ruby, you two were always so close
- Things are different now, especially with our relationship, so it's not that easy to talk to her about things. Joey, Charlie's changed a lot since you've been gone.
- In what way?
- She was so hurt when you left. No Joey, I'm not blaming you for that. What Charlie did to you sucked, but now it's like she's scared about losing anyone else and so she won't let herself get close to anyone.
- She is with Angelo, though, isn't she?
- I don't know if she even really loves him, I mean it took her over a year to even tell him she did and now it's like she's trying to make up for it by saying it all the time and focussing her whole attention on him, even though he pretty much ignores her opinions, treats her like a doormat or is too busy to give her the time of day unless he wants her attention.
- You don't like Angelo?
- He's ok, but if your name isn't Angelo or Charlie, he's really not that interested in you.
- You want a drink Ruby, it sounds like we have a lot to talk about.
Joey listens attentively as Ruby pours out all her troubles, worrying the whole time how Ruby could have reached such a state without someone noticing
- So that's my life since you've been gone
- Wow. My first 16 years seem dull in comparison
- Joey, why did you come back?
- Ruby, this is my home and despite what happened last year, I missed it; I even missed Brett
- What about Charlie?
- I'd be lying if I said I never thought about her, but that's over Ruby
- I wish you had come back when you said you would
- So do I Ruby.
Charlie is about to walk across the road when a car screeches to a halt in front of her.
- What do you want Brett?
- stay away from my sister, she doesn't need you to stuff up her life again
- I never meant to hurt her, Brett, and anyway, I'm with someone else now.
- Just stay away from her.
As Brett moves closer to Charlie, Joey comes upon them.
- What's going on? Brett? Charlie?
- Nothing Joey. Sgt Buckton and I were just discussing pedestrian safety. Remember what I said, Sgt. I'll see you back at home Joey.
- Charlie, what was that really about? Did he threaten you?
- It was nothing; he's just worried about you.
- Yeah, right. Have you seen Ruby lately?
- No, why?
- I think you should go see her; she really needs to talk to you.
- Is she alright?
- Just go and talk to her Charlie.
As Joey walks away, Angelo watches from his vantage point (up a tree), his jealousy and paranoia growing, convinced that Charlie and Joey are going to get back together.
Walking home, Joey stops when she feels as if she is being watched. Turning in a slow circle, she can't see anyone
- Hello, is anyone there?
Shrugging her shoulders, annoyed with herself for jumping at shadows, Joey starts to walk again. As she nears home, she still can't shake the feeling she is being watched. Turning again, she catches sight of a red car, idling nearby. Unable to see who is driving through the tinted windows, Joey's nerves get the better of her as she turns and runs the rest of the way home, closing and locking the door behind her. With her back against the door, she lets out the breath she was holding.
- Brett! Brett, are you home?
With her nerves fraying, being scared to be alone, Joey reaches for the phone, only to jump in fright when the phone goes.
- Hello.
The sound of heavy breathing comes through the phone
- Hello, is anyone there?
- Did you miss me?
- Who is this?
- I told you if I wanted you I could have you, and having you once was just not enough.
Realising who it is, Joey hangs up in panic. Trembling, Joey fumbles with the phone when a hand grabs her shoulder
