Hi guys, thank you so much for reading and reviewing my fanfic. I can not believe the response I'm getting. I can't believe some of you guys are saying its bringing tears to your eyes. I'm going to try and continue and I hope you enjoy the rest. :)

Chapter 3 - Easy means to an end.

Brax P.O.V

I walked back to the car; I lingered outside for a minute before I wiped my tears, it was my pathetic way of trying to hide the tears but I knew and so did everyone else. Tears were the one thing that completed my face, without them was like having feet without toes.

I plastered a smile on to my face ready to go home where reality would kick in. The ride home was a quiet one; I don't know what I expected.

The silence was speaking volumes but no one wanted to tell it to shut up.

I parked up at the front and I knew there was Ruby but at this point I really couldn't deal with her or anybody. I know it was selfish after everything that I had said or done but right now I wanted to be on my own. I walked straight to the house and into the kitchen; I grabbed a glass of water and then went into the main bathroom. I opened the draw and there I saw them. I don't know what came over me, why was I about to give up, why was I going to break every promise, simply why was I going to take the easy way out.

I grabbed the bottle, it was full, there were enough tablets in there for me to overdose three times over. I took them back into my room and one by one emptied them onto my hand.

When life becomes hard, when life throws you in the deep end, when you see no escape, you see no light this is what happens. I needed to do this; I could not see my life without her. I already had endured this pain for far too long. Even if she wasn't calling me, even if she rejected me when I got there, wherever there might be, anything was better than this life, a life without her.

I went over to my closet and pulled out a box. It had odd bits and pieces, photos, memorabilia, important documents and one thing that was so brutally honest, it was the death certificate of Charlie. When we received this, it was so final, it was like even if we didn't believe she had gone, this confirmed it.

Why had she not responded to my pleading, I asked her to save me a place, I would find a way to reach her. Was I not worthy of being amongst the angels? Had she become that selfish that she didn't want to share her perfect life. Was there no place left for me in heart? Was she too rejecting me?

I was doubting the women I was madly deeply and unconditionally in love with.

They say you feel like this when life is coming to an end; they say your heart knows before your soul does. That was true because my soul was not amongst me. I had lost it the day I had identified her lifeless body. As I left the room it was ripped out, no consideration, no remorse that it might hurt, she ripped it and took it. I think if she had ripped it out with her bare hands, I wouldn't have minded, at least she would have embraced me one last time.

My heart knew the end was coming, but how could I even trust that because when something breaks it does not perform its best. It always has defects.

I didn't want to wallow in sadness anymore, I was ready and before I went I wanted to feel her presence one last time, her hot breath breathing down my neck, her husky voice telling me to suck it up, be a man. I wanted her body to rub against mine, send electric shivers down my body and I just wanted to feel her lips on mine.

Sometimes you can't find the way and other times your feet don't move, that's the situation I was in. I wanted to be with her but there was no way. Why couldn't she understand the fire in my eyes, the eagerness of my heart and the troubles of my mind? The fire burned to see her, the eagerness was to touch her; everything was about her, her and only her.

I laid my head back until I was flat on the bed, for the first time in forever I was laying on her side of the bed. She hated me being on the right, it was her side and she well and truly had made sure of it. Take that Buckton, I thought to myself. Try fighting me now. I looked up to the ceiling hoping to see her. There was nothing, I looked to my right, there was nothing, I got up, brushed the curtains to one side, and there I saw her walking out to the water. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run after her, I wanted to save her. Damn! First the love of my life had left me and now slowly, very slowly my own body was giving up on me. For what reason was I supposed to stay here, they say live life like your in paradise amongst earth, this was definitely no paradise, this was my very own personal hell.

I went back over to the bed; the tablets were still in my hand. I looked at them and right at this moment it was like they were the only ones providing me with a hug, an embrace her memories were gone and so were mine. This was really the end, I couldn't see the light nor the darkness; I saw peace. If consuming a handful of tablets was really the escape to find the peace away from this world then as sure as hell I was about to find out.

Charlie's P.O.V

I had been moved out of the delivery suite and into a room upstairs. I had my baby in my arms. He truly was the spitting image of Brax. He had the same green eyes, the same nose and even his hair was the same. It really did seem like this was 100% Brax with no genetic traits from me. I held him close to me, I was sure if I concentrated hard enough I could smell Brax's aroma.

Even with my baby in my arms, the hole was getting filled but I could still not hide my tears. There was still something missing. I know it was selfish but I wasn't asking for much, if not for me didn't my baby deserve to have his dad.

9:00pm

I had settled Darryl JNR; he was in his cot on the side of my bed. He even slept like Brax; if you listened carefully it was the same grunting noise that Brax made whilst he used to sleep, not that he would ever admit that he grunted in his sleep. Typical bloke!

I had been to the toilet and was making my way back up to my room, as I walked back I had to pass the nurses station. I had not approached the nurse station yet, but I recognised this figure without a doubt. As I approached closer I heard the women,

'I'm here to see Charlie, Charlie Buckton.''

The nurse looked up and she saw me, she smiled and I saw the women look at her before turning around. Her eyes fell on me before tears fell from her eyes and she simply said ' Charlie, oh my god Charlie.''

How did she know I was in hospital, how did she know I had given birth. There was no point in thinking, she was here and I hoped to God that she had come for the reason I thought she did.

'Georgia, oh my god, you're here. How did you know? Who told you? I was going to ring you tomorrow''

She embraced me in a hug…the hug was so out of character for Watson, she didn't do soppy sad actions normally but the hug exuded emotion beyond the measures.

' I will answer every question, but first show me this gorgeous baby of yours, Jack has not shut up since he left the hospital, he rang me as soon as''

Oh yeah I forgot Jack, he would definitely have filled Watson in. We went back in to the room; Daryl JNR was still fast asleep. Watson sat on the chair next to him and watched him in awe. I watched her for ages before I laughed, she shot me a confused look.

' I can't believe your watching him sleep. I bet a year and half ago you never thought you would be here looking down at Daryl Braxton's kid.''

She looked at me and laughed, just like the good old days we laughed, joked and it was a new one but we shared tears.

It was nearly hitting 10pm and Daryl JNR was stirring in his sleep. He woke up and looked around the room. He opened his eyes wide. I got out of bed to go to him and from the corner of my eye I saw Watson, she had gone into her bag.

'Charlie, two minutes, don't take him out just yet''

I turned to look at her and she waved a camera at me,

'did you think I would forget. I'm here to keep my promise.''

She took so many pictures and each one was perfect. It was like he knew what the purpose of the pictures was. For a baby that was only a couple of hours old, his eyes were wide awake and he was definitely lapping up the attention. Oh God, not another attention seeker like Ruby. Just hoped that was the only characteristic he shared with his sister.

Watson was still here, I didn't want her to leave and I don't think she did either. She was too engrossed with my baby. I left her watching him and I fell into deep thoughts.

Life would be so different if I was back in Summer Bay, I would have Brax by my side. I would have our baby in my arms. I would be proud to say I had given birth to his child. I just wanted to be back home, I wanted him to see his child and most off all I wanted to see him. I wanted to quench the thirst in my eyes that longed to see perfection.

Since I had given birth I could not think of anything other than my return. I wanted to see him; even from afar would be fine. Actually it wouldn't be, I knew even if I saw him from afar, I wouldn't stop there, I would want to go near, and as I got nearer, I would want to touch him, and if I touched him, I would want to fall in his arms and if I fell in his arms, I knew there was no way in hell I would leave.

Being in his arms would be a good thing but how foolish of me, when good things come, sadness always follows; I should know better than anyone.

I really did not want sadness to follow, I was all over sadness. It was my time to feel something other than loneliness. It was my time to feel like I should live again. There was no point in putting my heart and mind through the torture anymore. Even they needed a break from the constant fighting against each other. It was time for both my heart, my mind and all other aspects of my body to become one again, this time it was their time to fight, not with each other, they had to become one and fight the threat Jake had imposed on me.

When I went into witness protection, one thing I did in life was figure out what I hoped for. All I had to do was live inside that hope, when I figured it out I had admired it from a distance but now I was going to live in it. My hope was to feel complete again and that was with Brax and Ruby and our bundle of joy.

People think too much about security, instead of opportunity and those people are more afraid of life than death. Well not me I had defeated death and now I for the first time was going to look forward.

I say forward but not in the context of the future because I only live for the past, the present and the day. I don't think about tomorrow before the sun has even risen.

Ruby's P.O.V

I had stayed over at Casey's. I didn't want to go home, not after this afternoon; I needed to be in his arms. I just wanted to feel the warmth of his skin against my cold attire. One thing that I had learnt with Charlie passing away was that jump with both feet, it is the most unstable thing to do in the laws of physics, you will fall and you might never regain your balance but at least you lived with no regret. I had realised that life was too short, just to be amongst people that you loved, just to be amongst Casey was a blessing, living amongst him and everyone else was holy. In everything I had learnt that you inhale and exhale, but your not breathing, your heart pumps blood, but there is no heartbeat. Your body moves, your face shows emotion, you eat, laugh, smile, you do everything apart from one thing and that is live life. You only live life if there is a purpose, and if you don't believe in that purpose then life even brands you a failure.

The next morning

I woke up to the sun peeking in through the window. I moved and realised I was so stiff. I looked around and saw that we were still on the couch, we must have fallen asleep. The house was silent; there was no sound, nothing. I nudged Casey, who grunted and turned his head around; the silence was really killing me.

'Casey get up will you, Casey!''

He was not going to wake up like this I had to get up and show him my own waking techniques. I went to the kitchen, filled a pan with ice cold water and headed back to the living area. Just as I was about to pour it slowly on his head, THUD! I got startled and the water fell out the pan straight on to Casey's head with the pan following suite.

As I looked at Casey in shock, he was fuming and I could see his forehead turning a crimson colour from where the pan had hit. I heard Heath laugh; it was him who had made me jump when he came back. He could never do anything quietly.

Casey's P.O.V

My head was killing, I had an ice pack on it but the pain was not subsiding. I would be able to probably deal with the pain, it was the sniggering coming from Heath and Ruby that was really grating on me.

'quit it will you''

They both just looked at me and started laughing; this was going to be a long day.

I went to my room to get changed and get away from the two idiots. As I made my way to my room I realised that Brax was still in his room and hadn't come out since last night. As I walked to his room, just as I was about to open the door I thought best not too. He probably was tired and didn't want to be disturbed.

A couple of hours later

It was the afternoon and Brax still hadn't made an appearance, he had been in his room since yesterday, ever since he came back from the cemetery. I wondered what was up with him, what a silly question. Everyone could see it, he was finally beginning to show the cracks, maybe just maybe he was going to stop and grieve for her. It wasn't normal; he had hidden his loss from the world in the hope that watching Ruby recover and come to terms with Charlie's death would bring him peace.

What he thought was hidden from the world was not hidden, he was naive, did he really think the world was blind. We could see what he was doing, actually I think we all could see what he was doing but Brax couldn't see anything other Charlie. His world had begun with her and I know that he would do anything to bring her back.

He had to understand that life might be hard right now, it doesn't become easy, the only time its easy is when there is no life. The moment passes and he will be six feet under.

Heaths P.O.V

Casey had gone into his room and left me and Ruby. We were still laughing at this morning's incident. It really was the first time I saw Ruby laugh openly. There was no restrictions, no regret; no guilty feeling that she shouldn't be enjoying herself. I just wished Brax would too, why was he on self destruct mode.

If you watched from afar he looked like a troubled soul, come closer and you could see he just wasn't a troubled soul. He was a lost soul and the worst thing was he just wouldn't open up. Why didn't he understand that no wants to die, no one wants to leave loved ones, those who wish to be in heaven, its just a wish, no one wants it to come true. Death was inevitable and we have no control over it.

I simply had had enough. I didn't care what it took I was going to make him open up. I was going to beat him black and blue if that's what it takes. I got out of my seat and went to his room, I opened the room door and what I saw was something I was not expecting.

Charlie's P.O.V

It was foolish, it was crazy but nothing could stop me, I was adamant and I was going to go see them. Not talk, not reveal myself, but simply go see them to reassure my self that they were okay.

The pages in my book were going to change, the chapter of sadness I was going to close. I was going to unfold a new page, the new page was not going to connect the dots looking forward; it was going to connect the dots looking backwards. The dots were going to connect to show me the way. I had to trust something, my gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever it was; it would show me the way. I put my trust in my son.

I was all set to go. Jack was with me, he was going to stick by me, no matter what. We were in this together. I waited in the apartment, Jack was on his way, Daryl JNR was ready, our bags were packed, we were moving to the city. There was no stopping us. We would take each day and see where it leads us. Hopefully back in Brax's arms because, our bodies parted, the heart didn't. I didn't know how to part my heart from him?

We are not God; we just look at love, and question what is beyond love. The heart doesn't stop it lowers its gaze, it never stops running in the hope that it will reunite with its rightful owner. Brax was my hearts rightful owner.

Jacks P.O.V

I hid a secret, one that could change Charlie's life forever, it would change it for the best there was no doubt about it. I had to find the right time; I had to make sure everything was okay. I had to make sure one of us got the happy ever after. My happy ever after was buried so deep in the ocean that even an eternity was not enough. Whereas Charlie had hers within arms reach. It was at an arms reach but there were hurdles to overcome.

That night I had not rang Watson, in fact she had rang me, purely coincidental. She had asked me what I was doing; I told her I was at home. She had not meant in that context, she had said it in the context of what were my next steps. I didn't know I had no answers. I had accepted that the life that I was living would see me to the end, me and Charlie both were living in a bubble. A very fragile bubble that could burst at any moment, we had learned to take each day at a time in the fear that we shouldn't put pressure on the bubble.

Watson had asked me a very weird question, I didn't know whether she meant it or whether it was to see a reaction, she had asked me how I would feel like moving back to Summer Bay. Ease myself back into my old life. Be a police officer again.

It was always a possibility, my life was not in danger anymore; I had chosen to live in witness protection because Martha had moved on. When Charlie came along I didn't see the point in going back but now I don't know why but I was seriously considering the idea.

Was I about to become the deceiver, was I going to leave her so I could live back in the bay. I actually knew the answer; I was never going to leave her. Watson made my decision even easier when she said Charlie would be moving back to... I was so ecstatic but it was short lived.

Jake had died; he escaped prison to meet death from one of his own gang members. The threat imposed on Charlie was eradicated, however it was not still safe, after all if she went back as soon as the death of Jake, it would definitely ruffle a few feathers, the loyal members of the gang might feel that Charlie was the reason why Jake died. The heat needed to die down.

I walked up to the apartment, I got Daryl JNR car seat of Charlie and settled him in the car, I had found us a nice little apartment in the city and the removal van was taking everything, the only thing that I had to transport was Charlie, the baby and myself. We had a police escort as well just to be safe.

As we got into the car, I handed Charlie a set of keys, she looked confused,

'I thought you've already given me the keys to the apartment''

I looked at her and smiled these were not the keys to the apartment, they were to a motel room, I knew that Charlie would like to be close for the first few days after she saw Ruby and Brax. She wasn't allowed to talk to them as she had no idea about the situation with Jake but she could still see them from afar. If it wasn't for Daryl JNR I would have just commuted with her but it would be too much, especially since she only gave birth a few days ago.

'that missy is a key to a motel room, it for you and the bub. I know you and you will definitely want to stay in the bay for a few days. So that is a little surprise from me''

'thank you Jack. I don't know what I did to deserve you but I'm glad you're here.''

'me too Charlie, me too'' I replied.

I had made a booking at the motel for two weeks because that's hopefully all the time that was needed for Watson to give us the all clear to move back permanently. If luck was on our side then I had a feeling the boxes in the apartment in the city are not going to get opened.

Charlie's P.O.V

5 hours later

After many pit stops, thankfully not because of my weak bladder, I had to feed and change Daryl JNR and also it was not recommended to keep him in a car seat for too long we had finally arrived. The sign was getting closer and closer until it was close enough for me to read.

Welcome to Summer Bay.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. I just thought because I'm part way through writing the next chapter I'll give some spoilers.

Next time:

*What has Brax done, has he ended the story just when it was about to begin?

*Does someone see Charlie and why does she feel like home is not home anymore. Will she stay in the bay or leave?

* And Daryl JNR meets his sister.

Thanks for all the reviews and those who read, it really is apreciated,

Abz

xxx