Chapter 2

Ruby opened the door to find Angelo standing at the other side. "What do you want?" Ruby spat. As she looked up at the man she once respected and looked up at as a father figure she felt nothing but hated and disgust, and on some level she also felt betrayed by him.

"Is Charlie in?" Angelo asked rather shyly, feeling uncomfortable by the vibes Ruby was giving off.

"What do you want her for?" Ruby spat as she shot Angelo a hateful look.

"Rubes, was that the door?" Charlie asked as she walked into the room. As she looked up and saw Angelo she felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. A feeling mixed with betrayal, hurt and anger, but she still felt the love that she had for him. "Angelo" Charlie spoke so quietly she was barely heard. She cleared her throat before walking closer to the door. "Come in"

"Seriously?" Ruby questioned as she gave her mother a confused look. "Why do you want to…"

"Rubes" Charlie interrupted "Go to your room please and let us talk"

Ruby sighed heavily as she shook her head at her mother. "I'm going to Casey's" Ruby shook her head once more as she pushed passed Angelo and slammed the door shut behind her.

"What's got her in that mood?" Angelo asked.

"Oh I don't know Angelo" Charlie yelled as she raised her hands out to the side "How about the man who she looked up to and respected as a father figure just left her mother for her best friend" As Charlie spoke she felt herself welling up with tears. Angelo had only left her a week before hand and everything was still very raw for Charlie, and having just found out she was pregnant was making things even more difficult for her.

"Look, Charlie, I never meant to hurt to you or Rubes" Angelo shook his head lightly as he took a step closer to Charlie and went to put his hand on her arm in an act of comfort as he saw a lone tear rolling down her cheek.

"Don't" Charlie put her hand out as she stepped back, not wanting Angelo to touch her. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Charlie asked as she wiped the tear from her cheek.

"Ehm, well I wanted to pick up the rest of my things" Angelo said as he looked around the room, noticing that anything he had left was actually nowhere to be seen.

"Ruby packed all your stuff up" Charlie said, now fighting back the wave of nausea that had suddenly hit her. "It's in the garage" Charlie spoke quietly as she lightly placed her hand onto her chest. "Excuse me" Charlie spoke quickly as she ran out of the living room, and along the hall and into the bathroom where she threw up. A few minutes later she returned to the living room to find Angelo still standing there looking rather confused at Charlie's quick exit from the room.

"You alright?" Angelo asked, sounding concerned for Charlie. "You sounded like you were being -"

"Don't act like you care about me now" Charlie spat. "You clearly didn't when -"

"Of course I care about you Charlie. I still love -"

"Don't" Charlie yelled as she once again found herself welling up with tears. "Don't you dare say you still love me"

"I do Charlie" Angelo said softly as he took a step closer to her. "But the love I have for Nicole, it's so strong and I've never felt that before"

Upon hearing Angelo's words, Charlie felt her heart shatter into a million tiny pieces. "So, you love her more than you've ever loved me?" Charlie asked tentatively, for she wasn't sure she really wanted to know his answer. Angelo stood silently as he broke eye contact with Charlie. This was enough for Charlie to know his answer. She loved Angelo more than she'd ever loved another partner before, and finding out that he loved another woman more than he loved her really hurt. "I let myself fall for you. I told you about Grant and I gave you my trust, 100 per cent of my trust" As Charlie spoke she tried her best to keep her voice from breaking as she felt like she was about to burst into tears. "You're the first person I ever let myself fall completely in love with because you made me believe that you loved me and that you'd never hurt me like Grant did. You broke down my wall and made me feel safe again, but then….." Charlie trailed off as she broke down into tears. Although she had had a few cries since Angelo left, this was the first time she really let herself go. She was always trying to stay strong, especially in front of Ruby as this had affected her so much as well, and on some levels Charlie felt it was a worse betrayal for Ruby, because not only had her father figure hurt her, but also her best friend had too.

"Charlie" Angelo spoke softly as he stepped forward and pulled her into a comforting hug. Charlie struggled for a few seconds, but then fell into Angelo as the tears continued to stream down her face. Angelo gently ran his hand through her hair as she cried in his arms. Charlie held tightly onto Angelo's t-shirt as she breathed in his smell as he held her in his arms. She loved his smell, and she felt safe when she was in his arms, but now she wouldn't have that, no matter how much she wanted it, because Angelo's heart was no longer in it.

"What did I do wrong?" Charlie voice was muffled as she still had her head pressed against Angelo's chest.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Charlie" Angelo said "Me and Nicole….it sort of just happened. She moved in and we started spending a lot more time together and then one day I just started to look at her differently. She was no longer just Ruby's friend. She was this beautiful young woman who I…."

"So it my fault" Charlie pulled back from Angelo and looked up to face him. "I made this happen"

"You didn't do anything -"

"But if I didn't let Nicole move in with us then maybe this wouldn't have happened" Charlie wiped a tear away from her cheek as she spoke. She was desperate to know why and how this happened. Desperate to find a reason. Desperate to know if there was anything that she could do differently if it meant Angelo giving things with her another shot. Although she was deeply hurt by what Angelo did to her, she loved him so much and there was a big part of her who would give him forgiveness if he said he'd made a mistake and wanted to be with her. Especially now she was pregnant with his child, she felt they should be together even more.

"Charlie this wasn't your fault" Angelo shook his head lightly "It was me and Nicole. We are the ones who had the affair. It's our fault….my fault for cheating on you. It was nothing you did. You are amazing. You are gorgeous, and funny and smart; you were a great girlfriend -"

"But if you think all that then wasn't I enough? If you think all that of me then why did you cheat on me?"

"I just fell for her, Charlie. It doesn't mean I changed what I thought about you, but Nicole, she's great Charlie and I want to see where things go with us" Angelo spoke softly as he tried to let Charlie down gently. Even though he had left her, he did still love her and hated what he was doing to her. He could see how much Charlie didn't want things to be over between the two of them, despite what he did to her.

"So that's it" Charlie said "We are over and there's nothing that I can do to make you change your mind?"

Angelo shook his head lightly as he looked down to the floor. "I'm sorry Charlie, but I want to be with Nicole" Charlie bit her lip to stop even more tears falling. Upon hearing Angelo's words she felt like her heart was being ripped out. It hurt her so much to hear that the man she was so in love with wanted someone else.

"Sorry" Charlie said sounding surprised. "I thought that word would have surfaced before now"

"Charlie, I'm -"

"Yeah, you're sorry" Charlie pursed her lips together as she lightly rubbed her stomach. "So did you only come around for the rest of your things?" Charlie asked. Part of her was hoping that Angelo wanted to talk to her about giving things another go, but given the conversation that they had just had, she now knew that wasn't the case.

"Pretty much" Angelo nodded as he scratched the side of his head.

"What is it?" Charlie questioned. Angelo gave Charlie a questioning look. "C'mon, Angelo, I know you. There's something else you want to tell me" Angelo took a step forward and took Charlie's hand into his and led her to the couch, where they both sat down. He looked at Charlie's tear stained face and exhaled lightly. He hated what he'd done to her and knowing how much Charlie was wanting to be with him despite the fact that he had cheated made him feel even worse.

"I wanted this to come from me" Angelo said "So, you are the first one to know. We both thought that you deserved to find out from me, and not Colleen, because you know what she's like once she hears a bit of gossip" Angelo laughed lightly trying to lighten the mood in the room but Charlie just stared at him blankly, with so much hurt being shown in her usually sparkling blue eyes.

"Angelo, what is it?" Charlie asked.

"Nic and I think it would be best to get a clean break from here. You know, how we got together, me, Nic and Georgie going about here, acting like a family, we don't want to throw that in your face, so we are moving away" Angelo said tentatively.

"Angelo, you don't need to move away….you can't move away" Charlie said immediately thinking of their unborn baby.

"Charlie, I think we have too" Angelo said "You clearly need -"

"Angelo I can accept that you don't want to be with me" Charlie said, once again on the verge of tears and having to accept that Angelo didn't want to be with her, no matter how much she wanted to be with him. "But you can't move away from here. I need you to stay here because -"

"Charlie" Angelo interrupted as he once again took hold of her and rubbed it gently. "We are moving. We have an apartment already and I have venues to look at to open up a new restaurant, I've already sold my half of the restaurant to Brax, we have the flights booked…." Angelo trailed off as he saw Charlie pursing her lips together as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"Flights?" Charlie questioned "Angelo, where are you moving too?"

"Italy" Angelo said after a lengthy pause. "We both want to just get out there and see a different part of the world. We think it would be great for little Georgie to grow up in the sun by the ocean and -"

"Angelo, you live in Australia, there's plenty sun and ocean here for George. You can't move to Italy"

Angelo shook his head lightly as he stood up from the couch. "Charlie, Nic and I are going to be together and we are moving to Italy. There's nothing you can do or say that's going to make me change my mind" Angelo started to make his way to the front door. Charlie knew she had to tell him about the baby and she knew it had to be now. She took a deep breath before she stood up and turned to face Angelo, who had his hand on the door handle.

"Angelo, you can't move to Italy, because I'm pregnant"

Please let me know if its worth carrying on:/

Danni