"Two Years, Four Months & 27 Days"
Rating: K +
Disclaimer: Nope don't own anything. Blame Channel 7 & H&A.
Summary: It's been over 2 years since Joey left Summer Bay. Things have changed, but can Charlie and Joey find their way back to one another?
This is my 2nd attempt at a fanfic so I'd still love to hear what you think with your reviews.
Since H&A doesn't seem to be making a move to bring Joey back we might just be waiting this long for it to happen unfortunately.
As the summary says 'things have changed.' I've decided not to use the *Spoiler - Look away now* Ruby is Charlie's daughter storyline as I still can't understand how they're going to do that realistically and I like their sisterly relationship, but I will be using the Belle spoiler to a degree. I've written the first few chapters, and you should expect soap-style drama to come. It's why most of us still watch the show. This fic isn't set in Summer Bay but it's still got that H&A drama going for it.
Oh and PS I'm not from Sydney so if I feel the need to make up locations etc rather than look them up properly I sure will be doing so lol!
Chapter One
Two years, four months & 27 days. Charlie opened her eyes. She hated counting, but every morning before her eyes opened, her thoughts intervened to add on another day. Another day to the long list of days since Joey had left Summer Bay. Since she left me. Will it ever get easier? It has to right? Will there ever be a day that I don't wake up counting the days? Regretting the mistakes made. Charlie sighed. Getting up, having a shower, and getting changed, ready for another day of work. Another day without her.
Thinking back on all the things that had happened since that day, Charlie was barely recognisable. Things had changed. She looked out of the window of her apartment, looking out at the Sydney skyline. That was one of her favourites pastimes, staring out into the distance, wondering what she was doing. Is she happy? That's the one question that she wanted an answer to. That's all that mattered. Really, and truly.
Because as much as Charlie hated to admit it, she wasn't completely happy. Not really. She had a great job, good friends, and a fantastic apartment. Several months after Joey had left, her father had passed away. It was a difficult time but when they felt the time was right, with the inheritance they had received she and Ruby had decided to buy the apartment. It was close to Morag, whom they still kept in touch with, and after Ruby accepted a place at a top Sydney uni, they decided they needed to leave Summer Bay and all its dramas behind. It was a tough decision, but there were so many painful memories at the coastal town.
Charlie had also received a great opportunity to be Senior Constable at one of the biggest Sydney precincts. A nice step up for her career. Not a promotion as such, but she knew it would take some retirements from her bosses before she ever got anywhere in the Yabbie Creek force. All the pieces lined up, and there was nothing stopping her from leaving Summer Bay. Nobody important to keep her there.
Charlie blinked back tears as she recalled when she knew Joey wasn't coming back to her. All the mounting evidence against Robbo, the knowledge that there wasn't a thing his lawyer could bend or twist to keep him out of jail. He gave up. Changed his plea. Guilty. Accepted his punishment from the courts, and it was over. Joey didn't need to return and give evidence at the trial. Joey didn't need to return to her. And she didn't.
Aden received a letter from Joey, explaining that she was still hurting from Charlie's betrayal and that she'd received an extension on her job. She'd decided to take it. She didn't know if she could ever forgive Charlie, and wasn't sure if it was worth the risk. It broke Charlie's heart when Aden gave her the letter. She'd spent the next few weeks crying and sobbing alone in her room. Ruby convinced her to get back out into the world, but that lead her down the path of many drinking binges. It took a long time for her to get over the pain. It still hurt, but every day that pain got a little less.
"Hey Charlz, you up yet? You're gonna be late for work again!" Charlie sighed as Ruby's voice pulled her from her thoughts. Grabbing her work stuff and purse, she walked out into the kitchen. Aden was standing there cooking up some breakfast for them. He was a great cook, but fortunately for him that wasn't the only reason she loved having him around. She watched as Ruby walked up behind him, hugging him. He turned around into the hug.
They were a sweet couple. Charlie admitted that it took some getting used to but they were meant for each other. After Ross had passed away, Xavier had pulled away from Ruby, not even trying to support her through the most difficult time of her life. He showed her the jerk he really was. She didn't put up with that, and Aden and she had gotten close. He was going through the same thing after Belle passed away from her struggles with drug addictions. They didn't get together straight away. They remained friends but after Ruby decided to move to the city for her uni degree, Aden finally admitted he couldn't be apart from her. He'd fallen head over heels for the young girl. Ruby had been crushing on him since they'd become close friends, but always assumed she was too young for him.
It wasn't long before weekend trips to visit one another turned into Aden moving to the city to be with Ruby. Although Charlie was hesitant at first, it seemed pointless Aden paying out a mass amount of rent for his own apartment, spending all his earnings from his job, when he spent all his time with Ruby anyway, so Charlie relented and let him move in with them. It felt good having a guy around them, always able to be Mr Fix-It when he wasn't busy at the restaurant.
Turns out Aden's cooking abilities, and time spent at the Diner helping Roman and Leah, wasn't a hobby or a pointless high school job. And the time spent working on the trawler helped him realize he loved cooking with seafood. He was an apprentice chef at one of the better seafood restaurants in the city. Aden leaned over and placed some pancakes onto the plate he'd put in front of her. "Thanks Aid. So you two got the day off today?" "Yep first Saturday I've had off in weeks so we're gonna spend the day together. You starting work soon?" Aden asked.
"Good for you. Wish I had considered the fact I never have weekends to myself when I signed up for the force. And yes I do start work in...five minutes ago. Damn it! Didn't think I'd slept in so late." Charlie quickly ate a few mouthfuls of pancakes then took off, leaving the lovebirds to themselves.
Charlie walked into the precinct ten minutes later, with a coffee in hand, apologising to her co-worker for being late. Even though she was the boss, she still felt bad about her God-awful punctuality. Her co-worker Dave turned around. He was on the phone, but acknowledged Charlie's presence. "Right of course, yep we'll head straight over there." Dave hung up the phone. "Nice to see you here Charlie, got a call out to do. Want to come with me?" "Sure what've we got?" Charlie inquired.
"That big adventure and fishing store 'All Adventure' on George St rang. The place just got held up, and the guys got away with the takings for the store. Interested?" he told her. "No problem. What about Kent, he too busy to go with you?" Charlie asked. "He's a little busy with that interview you were gonna do. The new recruit...the one you were coming in early today to interview for the new position here. The one you have no idea what I'm talking about. Yeah Kent's covering you, and the other guys are backed up on paperwork, so it's you and me," he told her. "Crap! I knew I forgot something today. Right we'd better get over there, and check everything's alright."
A few minutes later, the two cops walked into the store. Charlie took a look around. The place had a few stands upturned, but other than that didn't seem like much damage had been done. But getting held up must still have been scary to go through. Dave noticed a young brunette, in a work uniform picking up some gear which had been knocked over. Walking over to her, he introduced them, "Hi. Are you the girl that called through the incident? I'm Constable Andrews and this is Senior Constable Buckton." Joey stood stunned by the name she'd just heard. Am I hearing things now? Turning around she came face to face with the woman who had broken her heart, "Charlie?" she whispered. Charlie heard her name spoken, facing the young girl, she was shocked when she recognised her instantly. "Joey?"
