Title: Innocence

Summary: Six months after she broke up with PJ, Jo has moved on with her life and has settled down to work as one of the best Detectives in a town just out of Melbourne. One day whilst Jo is out jogging, her life takes an unexpected turn…

"Ok Jo I'm done. Can I leave now?" Aisha, a colleague of Jo's asked when she handed Jo a report.

"I guess so. I mean I haven't got anything else I want you to do so if it's ok with the boss I don't see why not." Jo replied with a smile.

"Great. Are you coming down the bar for a drink? It's sort of a goodbye thing for Simmone."

"I'm not sure. If I have time I'll drop by. But I'm sort of busy tonight. I'll see her tomorrow at the party though."

"Ah right…the big date with Ryan. So do you think he's going to propose." Aisha winked.

"I don't know?" Jo shrugged.

"Oh come on. He's been planning this date for ages now. If he doesn't propose then I'll do all your paperwork for a month."

"Alright…fine it's a deal."

"So you do think he's going to propose?" She smiled cheekily. "Woot…go Jo."

"Ok, ok …just please try and keep it to yourself. I don't want the whole office finding out."

"Ok I'll try to keep it a secret."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Right well seeing as you cant make it tonight, I'll have a drink for you then."

"Righto. Just don't drink too much. Remember what happened last time?"

"Yeah. Sorry about that. You know I really didn't men to crack onto your boyfriend…I'm just really out of it after a few drinks."

"So I've noticed." Jo laughed. "No harm done really. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Sure. Now are you picking up the cake or is Kathy?"

"I think I'll pick it up on the way in. Are you sure there's enough room in the fridge for it?"

"Yeah that's fine."

"Great. See you tomorrow then."

"Bye Jo. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"I'll try not to." Jo waved as Aisha disappeared from her view.

She then started packing up her things and getting ready to leave.

"Hey Joanna!" Kirra Symmons, Jo's assistant smiled when she walked into Jo's office.

"Hey." Jo smiled back and closed her briefcase.

"All finished for the day?"

"Yeah. I'm just about to head home."

"Ok. Well a call just came in for you. Should I take a message?"

"Is it personal or work related?"

"Ah…I'm not sure. Probably work related." Kirra shrugged.

"Well then take a message. I'm off duty. Whoever it is can wait until tomorrow."

"Ok. Sure I'll take a message."

"Thanks Kirra. Goodnight."

"Yeah, night Jo." Kirra smiled and left the office.

Jo grabbed her things and headed out of the office, switching the lights off as she went.

When she arrived home and opened the front door She was surprised to find that there were rose petals scattered along the hallway. She grinned and placed her keys and bag down then walked further down the hall. She walked into the living room to find a giant purple box with a gold ribbon around it. Jo walked towards it and as she got closer she noticed a small tag.

"Open Me." Jo read. Then she carefully unwrapped the ribbon and pulled the lid off to reveal a slightly smaller box, this time blue with a pink ribbon. She smiled and continued pulling boxes out of each other until she got to a really small black velveteen ring box. Carefully she opened it to find that it was empty. The smile on her face turned to a frown and she sighed.

"You have to say yes first." A voice came from the hall. Jo turned around to find Ryan in the hallway, slowly walking towards Jo, holding a small diamond and ruby ring.

"It depends on what the question is." She smirked. As Ryan got closer he bent down on one knee and held out the ring.

"Joanna Marika Parrish…will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

"Yes!" He placed the ring onto her finger then he stood up and grabbed her around the waist. He spun her around then she leaned in and kissed him passionately.

"I love you so much." Ryan smiled.

"I love you more." Jo beamed back.

"Morning." Jo rolled over to see that Ryan was staring at her.

"Morning." Ryan replied and he kissed her softly.

"What's the time?"

"About 8."

"Great. I've still got hours till I need to be at work."

"Yeah. But I've got to be out of here by nine. If I'm not at work on time today my boss is going to fire me."

"Well you'd better get up and get ready then."

"Hmm…yeah." He sighed and put his head back down on the pillow.

"Come on. If we're going to get married we're going to need the money from the job you're doing. Now get off your ass and go to work." Jo smiled and playfully pushed Ryan away from her.

"Oh you wanna play rough do you?' He winked. Jo squealed when he started tickling her.

"Don't! Stop it!"

"Don't stop it…ok I wont!" Jo started hitting him and screaming with laughter as he kept tickling her.

"Ryan stop it!"

"Ok, ok I'll stop. But only if you give me a kiss."

"Sounds like a fair enough deal to me." Jo replied. Ryan stopped tickling her and leaned towards her face.

"I love you." Jo smiled.

"Love you more." He replied and then he kissed her passionately.

After Ryan had left for work, Jo dressed in her jogging clothes and headed out for her usual morning Jog.

"Morning Jo." One of the locals smiled and waved as Jo jogged passed.

"Morning Sam." She waved back.

"How's Ryan?"

"He's good. How's your wife doing?"

"She's not doing so well. She's had to be rushed back to he hospital last night. I'm only here this morning because Jack can't get here until 12. As soon as he gets her I'm going off to the hospital to see her."

"Well you tell her I said hi. And give her a kiss for me."

"Will do. Bye Jo. Have a nice day."

"Yeah. Bye Sam." Jo continued jogging along her usual morning route. She was jogging past the back of the local supermarket when she saw someone placing something that was wrapped in a blanket into a dumpster.

"Hey!" Jo called out. "What are you doing?" a teenage girl looked up and when she saw Jo she ran away. Jo started running to catch up to her but the girl was too fast and she disappeared before Jo had the chance to catch her.

"Dammit!" She cried. Then she leant on the dumpster for support while she tried to catch her breath. She was about to start jogging off when she heard a noise coming from inside the dumpster. She carefully lifted the lid and saw the blanket that the girl had put into the dumpster. Jo was reaching for the blanket when suddenly it started moving and screaming. Jo quickly pushed the blanket back to find a very purple faced crying baby.

DUN DUN DUN! Well…you know how much I love cliff-hangers so…what's Jo going to do with the baby? Who was the girl that dumped the baby? Will Jo be able to get the baby to the hospital in time?

Review and you'll find out!

Jess