The sound of the music and laughter silenced the loud sobs coming from the store room in Noah's bar. It had been almost an hour that she had been sitting in there, crying.

The Christmas party was raging, people were dancing, others were drinking, laughing and just generally chatting, but not she.

She choked back a sob as things finally came into perspective for her, and she didn't know how to handle the news.

The door creaking open alerted Charlie that someone had finally heard her, quickly wiping her puffy red eyes as she looked at who had entered.

"Hi Martha,' Charlie choked back as Martha gave her a sympathetic look before entering the rest of the way and pushing the store room door closed with her back as she looked at Charlie.

"I thought I heard someone crying in here, is everything ok?' Martha asked as Charlie looked at her for a moment before bursting into tears again.

Martha quickly rushed over to her, leaning down and bringing Charlie into her arms. "Charlie what's wrong?'

Charlie tried to speak, to tell Martha something at least but all the escaped were more sobs as her body began to shake once again and she closed her eyes tightly, sobbing into her friend.

After a few more moments of crying, Charlie slowly composed herself before pulling away from Martha, half smiling as she saw the wet patch on Martha's nice black dress.

"Your dress has a wet patch!'

Martha smiled before shrugging. "I don't mind, wasn't really in the party mood, anyway I'm here for you so what's wrong? Is it Angelo?'

Charlie quickly shook her head and looked down at her stomach as more tears brimmed the corner of her eyes and she looked back up at Martha.

"I had an abortion...'

Martha nodded slowly before hugging Charlie. Both girls just sat there as they heard what sounded like Rachel and Tony walk past the store room, laughing in hysterics. Next they could hear Colleen's voice and both girls began to giggle lightly before stopping.

"I had an abortion a couple of years ago,' Martha spoke up as Charlie looked at her, not looking surprised, but more relieved. "After Jack and I split up, I met Ash, who was essentially Jack's best friend, we started dating and then I found out he had a wife and kids,' she spoke softly as the tears had now dried from Charlies cheeks.

"What happened?' Charlies asked quietly.

"He told me he was leaving his wife but kept putting it off, so I ended it and then found out I was pregnant. I booked in for an abortion, and had it done, Jack was the only one who found out because I went off the rails and had to tell him,'

"You didn't even tell Alf?' Charlie questioned as Martha shook her head.

"You're the only other person I've told, Hugo doesn't even know,' Martha replied as she saw Charlie look down again at her stomach. "So do you want to tell me what happened, I thought you and Angelo were happy?'

Charlie got to her feet in a hurry as Martha followed. "I have to go... I cant...' she began to walk to the door as Martha rushed over to her, grabbing her hand.

"Charlie...'

"What?' Charlie snapped as Martha quickly took a step back at her sudden outburst as more tears appeared and began to spill down Charlies cheeks.

Letting go of the door handle, Charlie ran her hands through her hair before sliding down the door, sobs beginning to rack her body again as she pulled her legs up to her chest. "I'm sorry Martha...'

"Charlie, what's happened?' Martha asked again as she leant down in front of Charlie, putting on hand on Charlies knee. "You can talk to me,'

Wiping her eyes again for what felt like the one hundredth time, she finally looked up at Martha.

"It wasn't Angelo's baby...'

Martha couldn't believe what she had just heard, sure Charlie had cheated once before on Joey with Hugo, but she didn't think Charlie would do it again after Joey left.

"What?' Martha questioned, unable to speak anything else as Charlie looked up at her, her bottom lip quivering.

"It's wasn't Angelo's baby,' Charlie repeated a second time around as she sniffled a couple of times before speaking again.

"I was raped!'

All previous thoughts running through Martha's head quickly disappeared as she watched Charlie break down once again. Leaning forward Martha hugging Charlie tightly, Charlie letting her legs fall to the side as she hugged Martha back tightly.

Sure Charlie and Martha hadn't been the best of friends since she started dating Angelo, the man responsible for Jack's death, but Martha knew she couldn't leave Charlie like this, especially on Christmas.

They both sat with their backs to the door, quietly listening to a bunch of the residents singing to 'Jingle Bell's Rock'. It felt like hours had passed since Martha had entered the store room to see who had been crying.

She looked at Charlie who was just staring at the tiled floor, her legs crossed and both hands sitting on either thigh. Taking Charlie's hand into hers made Charlie realize that Martha was still there, and she saw that Martha was worried about her.

"The night Grant was murdered, and when dad finally confessed to his murder, he told the police he did it because grant was scum and told him that he was going to be in mine and ruby's life for a long time,' Charlie began to explain before stopping, feeling Martha squeeze her hand gently before taking a deep breath.

"I was taking a walk along the beach, trying to figure out how I could protect Ruby from that... that – monster. I started making my way up the beach to head home when he came out of nowhere, grabbing me from behind. I... I tried to scream but he had his hand over my mouth and dragged me down to the dunes.

I couldn't scream, because it just reminded me of all those years ago. I couldn't scream, I couldn't even get away. He... laughed as he... ripped my skirt and pulled...

He said the exact same words as the night I was first raped... it's not the first time I've made a girl cry... like a sooky little kid,' Charlie said as she sniffled, wiping her eyes as the tears trickled down them.

"Oh god... Charlie,' Martha spoke, feeling so sorry for Charlie.

"I went straight to dad, he saw the bruises, and that's when he went looking for him,'

Martha held Charlie as she couldn't hold the tears back any longer; crying her final words to Martha as sobs overtook her.

"My father k-killed Grant for r-raping me... a-again,'