I have never written a home and away fic before I'm not from Australia so I am going to get some things wrong please feel free to point any thing out. I've been thinking about this fic for a while and just decided to post really if I get a good response I'll continue.
I should probably tell you that I took Charlie's death very hard and have not watched home and away since. So yeah enjoy.
Working in a bar wasn't the classiest of job's but it was work and right now Charlie couldn't discriminate, even if it meant she had to put up with most of the customers trying to look down her top, the unoriginal pick up lines or the occasional groping and of course the tips that didn't even pay her bus fare home most nights.
Looking around the dingy little pub Charlie wondered how her life had taken this turn. She was convinced she a horrible person in a past life because nothing else explains the shitty card life had dealt her.
She had always felt blessed well until a couple of years previous that is, her father had always taught her to be grateful for what you have and she had been. Unlike many of her friends parents, her's where still together and still as in love as before, they had a nice home, both her parents had good jobs and she wasn't failing any of her classes, she had a great group of friends and an even better boyfriend or so she thought.
She was 15 when she was raped by her then boyfriend Grant and barely 16 when she gave birth to her daughter. She will never forgive herself for the way she treated Ruby when she was born or the whole time she was pregnant but she just couldn't look at her without seeing him.
Her parents where livid when they found out their only child was pregnant at 15 and she that she was already over 5 months before she told them, they had wanted to go round to Grant's house and have it out with his parents until Charlie told them what happened. She never planned on telling them, she knew it would hurt them almost as much as it was hurting her but she didn't want her dad going round there didn't want Grant knowing about the baby, even if she had no intentions of keeping it she still felt an ingrained need to protect this baby from the evil that helped create it. She will always remember as reality see in for both of her parents how her mum had started sobbing uncontrollably and her dad had just sat in his favourite seat frozen by the realisation that someone had hurt his little girl in a way no woman should ever experienced. She had tried to comfort them both but if anything that had only make her mother cry more, so Charlie just sat there and let them get it all out.
They moved two weeks later.
Her parents had decided that it would be best for her to get a fresh start, some where she didn't need to see her attacker everyday. Her father said that it was too late to press charges because she had no evidence so it would come down to his word against her's, Charlie agreed with him because she didn't think she could bare reliving it during the court case, if it even made it to court. It was like her parents thought if she no longer seen him then she would forget all about it, out of sight out of mind but that didn't work, she was carrying around proof that it did happen and as long as she had his baby she would never be able to move on.
The first time she brought up adoption her mother blamed 'the stress of the situation' and told her to go have a lie down. The second time was right before she went into labour, her mum had made her go baby shopping with her and she thought she was going to have a panic attack as soon as she stepped foot into the shop. She lasted an hour before she couldn't take it any more, throwing the tiny clothes on the floor and heading for the exit.
"I don't want this." Charlie sobbed as her mother came running out after her.
"I know baby but she's coming whether you like it or not and she cannot go around naked for the rest of her life now can she?" Her mum said in soothing tones while rubbing her shoulders.
"Not the shopping, the baby!" Charlie screeched earning looks from passers-by. "I don't want a baby mum and I especially don't want his baby."
"It will be fine sweetheart you'll see as soon as she's hear your going to fall in love with her."
"I want to put her up for adoption, I cannot do this."
"That's just the hormones talking baby just you see, it's all going to be fine."
Charlie knew it wouldn't but she didn't dare tell her mother that every time she felt the baby move she was reminded of that night, every time she had a check up for the baby she was reminded of him, every time her parents gushed over the baby growing inside her she was reminded that this wasn't her life, Her life ended she same night the baby was created and she couldn't help but resent it.
She was in labour for almost 16 hours before they decided she needed a caesarean. She was too tired to care as long as they got it out of her. Her mother held her hand the whole time and cried when she heard the newborns cries fill the room but Charlie just lay there thankful that it was all over. She closed her eyes to tired to bother about the goings on around her until something heavy and wet was placed on her chest.
The first time she seen the baby she was bright red and screaming her lungs out demanding attention. Charlie didn't think she had ever seen something so tiny before.
"Ruby." Charlie whispered so softly she wondered if anyone could even hear her.
"What honey?" Her mother asked still wiping her tears as she stared down at the screaming infant.
"That's her name, Ruby." Charlie replied sending her mother into a fresh wave of tears.
The baby, her baby had quieted down a bit and she knew that she didn't that if she gave this baby away she would wonder for the rest of her life what she looked like? What kind of family did she have? Was she sporty like her or maybe artistic like her mother? The possibilities where endless but Charlie knew that she would regret giving her away.
By the time Ruby was a month old Charlie had all but given in. She wasn't cut out to be a mother and Ruby knew that, she cried all the time day or night and refused to settle unless she was being held. Her parents both said that is was completely normal to feel that way especially after everything she had been through but she couldn't shake the feeling that as much as she loved Ruby that she just wasn't a good mum and Ruby knew that.
Ruby was nearly 3 months old when Charlie ran away. She didn't even realise she was running away until she was on the bus to her aunty Michelle's house. Ruby needed nappies and she had volunteered to go get some just to get some time by herself for the first time in ages and the next thing she knew she was at the bus station buying a ticket.
Her aunty Michelle was relieved to see her even if she have a go at her about leaving and not telling her parents anything. She spilled her guts to Michelle, Who then called her parents and told them she would be staying with her for a few days. A week later Charlie finally took one of her parents phone calls and only to stop her dad from coming up there and told them both than she needed time out and she didn't know when she would be home. Charlie stayed there for a year she enrolled in the local high school and graduated. She loved it there she was just Charlie there, not Ruby's mum or The girl with the baby.
But it had to end she knew that she had to go back for her baby because as much as she loved being that care free girl she loved her daughter more it just took her a while to realise it. She had put her feeling about herself onto Ruby and that wasn't fare to either of them but she was going to go back to Ruby and be the best mum she could be. She had been stupid for thinking she could just walk out of Ruby's life for a year and expect everything to stay the same, her beautiful baby wasn't a baby any more she was an unstoppable force now she could walk and would babble on to anyone who would listen anyone but Charlie.
It took her nearly a two weeks to get Ruby to let her hold her without crying. She knew it would be hard but she just never expected how attached Ruby had become to her parents. It was easier when she was away because act lease then she didn't have to see the clear love on Ruby's face as she looked at her grandparents or she the look mirrored back on her parents faces.
It wasn't just Ruby that didn't seem all to happy to have her back but her mum and dad to. They tried to pretend everything was fine but she could see it lurking just beneath the surface that things weren't fine. Her mum had been reluctant to leave her alone with Ruby and she had understood where her mother was coming from but it was her baby and Charlie couldn't help but feel annoyed that she was being watched 24/7.
It was her parent's anniversary and her dad was treating her mum to lunch at a fancy restaurant, her mum had kicked up a fuss before leaving but Charlie was ecstatic it was the first time she would have Ruby without her mothers prying eyes on her.
It was the best day she could remember in a long time. She had gotten her and Ruby dressed and breakfast without indecent and she had felt pretty good about herself and decided to brave the park and push her daughter on the swings.
"You must be Charlie." She heard a voice call from the side of her. She had been to caught up in the delight on Ruby's face every time she was pushed higher on the swing, even letting out a bellowing laugh every once in a while.
"Yeah, and you are?"
"Oh sorry dear how rude! I'm Fiona your mother and I are in the same book club. She told me how you where coming home after so long staying with your Aunty, she was so excited wouldn't stop talking about it."
"Yeah I got back a while ago." Charlie said feeling lighter than she had in a while with the strangers confession.
"Yes, yes she told us all about it," Fiona said waving her hand dismissively. "I expect you'll be babysitting tonight then seeing as it's your parents anniversary. Such a good girl not many teenagers now a days would watch their little sisters so their parents could have a night off."
"Oh erm yeah." Charlie mumbled as the words rolled around in her head. Sister, sister, sister, SISTER.
The rest of the day was a haze she couldn't focus on anything except that word Sister, had her parents been telling people Ruby was their daughter or had people just assumed? She confronted her parents the very same night after they came home.
"Charlie we didn't know what to do after you left we didn't even know if you where coming back! people just assumed when they saw us with the baby and we didn't correct them." Her dad said.
"But I never said I didn't want her she's my baby of course I was coming back for her."
"And how where we supposed to know that Charlie? You said the whole way through your pregnancy you didn't want her and then suddenly you just up sticks and leave what else where we supposed to think." Her mother shouted.
"That I was doing everything I could so I could come back and be a good mum to her!" Charlie exploded. "She's my baby."
"Yes and your ours" Her father soothed. "And it's our job to look after you no matter what."
"Your father and I have been thinking, that maybe it's not such a bad thing that people think she's your sister. Maybe it's what's best for the both off you."
"What?" Charlie whispered unsure of what she was hearing.
"Think about it you've just finished school this is the time your meant to be off travelling the world with your friends, choosing which college's to apply to not looking after a toddler." Her mother tried to reason but all she could hear was they wanted to take her baby away.
"What your mother means to say is you shouldn't have to put your life on hold for something that wasn't your fault, we just want you to be happy is all."
"You mean my rape dad right?" Charlie spat out making her dad flinch. "I don't want to travel the world and who says I can't go to college and still be a good mum? No matter what I wanted before all of that changed the minute Ruby was born, the only thing I can think of right now is how much I want to be her mum."
They had argued for most of the night before her mother had finally conceded that Charlie had a right to raise her daughter. The next couple of weeks went by in the same fashion with Charlie taking on more and more responsibility for Ruby with each passing day, with her mother still watching her every move of course. Charlie knew her mother wasn't happy with the way she done some stuff with Ruby but she never voiced her opinion on the matter, Charlie still knew though by the looks that would get sent her way. She just never thought her mother would try to take her baby from her by force.
It was a nice afternoon and Charlie was meant to be taking Ruby to the park, she got half way there before realising she had forgotten Ruby's hat not wanting to give her mother anything to complain about she turned around and headed home.
"What is this Elsie!" Charlie could hear her father shout.
"I'm just seeing what rights we have is all."
"No these are papers to relinquish parental rights." Ross shouted freezing Charlie in place. "Your trying to get Charlie to sign her rights away."
"I got those a while back just encase." Elsie defended. "You wanted it as well."
"I'm not going to rip my daughters child away from her."
"She's 16 years old! I'm doing what's best for both of those girls. Charlie just doesn't realise that right now but I'm time she will."
"The only thing this is going to do is push her further away." Ross said suddenly sounding very tired.
"What's she going to do with her life? She had plans before this she wanted to join the police force remember? Now she never even talks about what she wants to be outside of a teenage mother. Is that honestly what you want for Charlie, to be living on welfare for the rest of her life?"
"She's a smart girl and like she said she could still go to the police academy we can watch Ruby."
"And what she comes home at the weekends to play mum? What about when she meets people, meets boys and she starts to resent Ruby because she cannot be like the rest of her friends and go out and party no she has a baby to get home to."
Charlie couldn't listen to another word coming out of her mother's mouth she took Ruby and ran as fast as her legs could carry her away from the house.
That was the night that Charlie made the decision to pack up her daughter and run.