"You Call It Madness But I Call It Love"

HI CJers!

Sorry for the delay folks - I've had this chapter saved and all ready to update for the last 3 days - only to find out my account had been 'blocked' and wasn't able to edit my stories or add chapters!

So close to thinking about creating a whole new account to continue my fics!

It seems to be fixed so hopefully I won't have any more issues in the future - if there isn't expect a lovely new chapter from me tomorrow 'cause I just know you'll be desperate for it after this one!

XTR - Sound advice!

Skippy - I plan to keep you hooked for a lot longer!

Tubs - Aww thanks for all your comments! Shucks! Yes I know I've got to get onto The Truth Hurts - developing a bit of writers block on that one I'm afraid...hopw to find the cure soon!

JSCO - And they'll just get cuter!

B2T - Here's you're lovely surf lesson! And there might be a lovely curveball in here too since you know me so well!

JCLuv - Sorry I couldn't cure your boredom for longer! Try reading my other fics 'Happily Never After' & 'The Truth Hurts' and reviewing them - that'll cure your boredom for sure lol! Well at least for a couple days! Glad you're still loving what's happening in this fic!

Jensy - Hmm I might take that bet... well here's a sneak peek at their first surf lesson - whether or not the lesson's continue we'll see how the rest of the fic plays out...

Konga - Bwa haha! I don't mind been called a mean bitch - probably 'cause it's true! But I appeciate you don't want to wait for some CJness!

Kim - Charlie's gonna find it very tough here to resist Joey's charm! I think you'll love their interaction even more in this chapter!

Okay the chapter you've all been waiting for...or is it lol?

Chapter Eight

Charlie closed her eyes and sighed dramatically, "I can't do this you know!"

Joey chuckled, "Yes you can...now try again...without falling again."

Charlie opened her eyes and glared up at Joey, "You just like catching me!"

Joey smirked, "And here I thought you were just oh so desperate for me to keep catching you! While it may be true that I don't mind catching you...would you prefer me to just let you fall on your butt instead?"

As she laid flat on her stomach on Joey's surf board which was lying on the beach sand, Charlie grumbled, "I'd prefer to just give up now 'cause I've accepted the fact that I can't surf...why can't you accept that?"

"'Cause I'm a stubborn Taurus!" Joey answered playfully, unable to stop staring down at the woman lying down on her surf board, "You've been at this for fifteen minutes...I've been surfing all my life. Just get used to getting up and standing up on the board whilst we're on dry land...if you can manage to do that soon we can finish up...and move onto something new tomorrow...maybe actually involving some water."

Charlie held her nerve, "If I have to stay here until I can manage to stand up on this board without falling over then we're gonna be here all day."

Joey knelt down so she was more level with Charlie, "Well then...I guess you'd better call the Station and tell them you won't be in today."

Charlie ran her tongue over her teeth, curious at the suggestion of skipping work to spend more time with the Braxton girl, "Well I do...have a lot of leave owing to me and you've kinda gotten me out of the mood of going into work this morning...I cannot believe I just said that."

Joey nodded, "Okay so skipping out on work isn't a good move for you even though I'm sure you'd much rather spend time with me than catching bad guys. How long have you got before you have to head back so you can get ready for work?"

Charlie looked at her watch, frowning sadly at the thought of having to leave Joey's presence soon, "I've got another five to ten minutes before I should head back home...but if you're interested...I have the day off work tomorrow."

"I'm interested," Joey whispered honestly, letting her feelings for the woman override the fact that she knew Charlie would probably never feel the same way about her, "Um...sure if you want to...hang out tomorrow we can...do that...it's a Sunday so I think the Bait Shop can stay closed for the day so I'll be...free all day...too."

Charlie smiled shyly, "Well in that case I'd better get going and I will catch up with you tomorrow where we can continue this failed attempt of trying to teach me to surf which can seriously only get so much better out in the water."

Before Charlie could attempt to stand up off the board, Joey reached out and placed her hand on Charlie's. Ignoring the electricity that pulsed through both of them, for fear of realizing they both felt it, Joey grinned, "Oh don't even think about it Charlie...we're not quite done just yet. C'mon just give it one more try. If you do...I'll go easy on you tomorrow and you can spend some time checking out the pro surfing before I get you near a board let alone out in the ocean."

Charlie paused for a moment, trying to ignore the idea of checking out the woman beside her, "Fine...just don't expect any miracles...I don't have any sense of co-ordination...I'm not a surfer."

"Obviously," Joey teased, "C'mon surely you have to have some sense of co-ordination and balance otherwise how else did you train to become a cop?"

"With a lot of luck," Charlie lied playfully, surprised at the sudden realization that she'd never had problems with her sense of balance before when it came to her job and maybe she was falling over on purpose because subconsciously she couldn't get enough of having Joey's arms wrapped around her steadily.

Shaking her head at the thought been outrageous because she couldn't possibly just be tripping over constantly on purpose just so Joey could catch her, Charlie continued, "Okay just stand back...and don't catch me this time...even if I happen to fall on my butt...again...you know 'cause I'm supposed to be the cop who rescues people...I don't need the rescuing."

"Whatever you say," Joey whispered dismissively as she stood up and took a few steps back away from Charlie.

Charlie took a deep breath as she shook her head at the thought that she'd ever be able to actually get out in the water to surf and hated that all she was doing was embarrassing herself in front of Joey.

Trying to ignore the desperate need for her not to embarrass herself in front of the woman, Charlie closed her eyes as she shifted her hands on the board ready to push herself into a standing position on the board.

Before Charlie could change her mind on being too afraid to make a fool of herself with Joey standing next to her, she swiftly pushed herself up using the strength in her arms before using her feet to jump into a standing position on the board.

But like all her previous attempts, Charlie's co-ordination and balancing skills failed her once she stood up and she tripped over her own feet and fell backwards.

Twisting her body to try and avoid falling backwards onto her butt, Charlie blushed deeply as she found herself face to face with Joey who had caught her mid-fall.

Joey wrapped her arms around Charlie's waist tightly as she helped Charlie stand back up properly. Joey licked her lips as she watched Charlie blushing deeply and was almost surprised when Charlie slipped her hands onto her hips to steady herself.

When Charlie was standing steady on her own two feet, Joey was more surprised when neither of them removed their hands off one another as they found themselves staring into each other's eyes.

Charlie squeezed Joey's hips, feeling her cheeks burning bright red at her embarrassment, "I thought I told you not to catch me...?"

Joey nervously pulled Charlie gently closer to her, unable to resist the amazing feeling of having Charlie in her arms, "Just trying to stop you from falling..."

Charlie held her breath for a moment at the sudden thought that Joey wasn't able to stop her from falling...for her...

Blinking quickly at the realization of what she'd just thought and the emotions beginning to get too much for her, Charlie unwillingly removed herself from Joey's grasp, "I should...ah...get going...sorry."

With both of them feeling an instant sense of sadness at the loss of contact once Charlie had pulled away from their embrace, neither of them could utter another word to describe the emotions they were both feeling.

Joey nodded softly at Charlie's words before watching the woman turn around and walk away from her down the beach. Picking up her surf board off the sand, Joey soon slammed the board's pointy end into the sand in frustration at the feelings she was developing for the cop...knowing too well that any feelings would never be reciprocated...let alone the fact that she shouldn't be falling for Charlie in the first place...

Later that evening, Charlie was in her office at the Station. A quiet knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts, "Come in."

Joey nervously entered the office, closing the door behind her, "Hey...ah...I got your message that you wanted to see me...and...the other cop...duh...Constable Watson told me you were in here."

Charlie sat at her desk, as she looked up at Joey anxiously, "Yeah um...take a seat. Look I left you a message because-"

Instead of sitting down, Joey paced the room tensely, "Look if this is about this morning and you think that I overstepped any bounds then I'm-"

Charlie held up her hand to stop Joey's rant, before realizing that hearing Joey's thoughts about what had happened might help her deal with her own emotions. Knowing that it was too late to ask Joey to continue talking about their embrace, Charlie sighed, "It's not about that...I...ah...arrested Brax this evening."

Joey's eyes widened, "You arrested my brother...? What for?"

Charlie stood up and awkwardly moved around the front of her desk, before leaning comfortably on her desk as she stared at the tattooed beauty, "Um...assault...on an officer...duh...me."

Joey surprised Charlie when she stepped forwards and took Charlie's hands in her own, "What'd he do?"

Charlie felt her hands tingling in Joey's grasp, unsure if she could continue to ignore what was happening between them, "It's...ah...not what you think."

Joey narrowed her eyes but waited for Charlie to continue.

Charlie closed her eyes briefly, feeling very stupid for arresting Brax and now been forced to explain her actions to Joey, "Okay so I'm gonna risk you hating me...but it wasn't a real...assault...but it's just that I had this thought that if I could have him in for questioning over this incident I could..."

"Question him about some other crimes you think he might've done?" Joey finished for her sadly.

Charlie squeezed Joey's fingers before glancing away from Joey's gaze, "I'm sorry...I have a job to do...I know he's your brother...I just thought...and then I realized it'd probably only end up hurting you if I did uncover anything he's involved with 'cause he'd probably end up with a criminal record or worse go to jail...and I didn't want to hurt you or have anything come between us...so...I called you to come and...bail him out...before I seriously got into him..."

Joey surprised Charlie when she let go of her hands before resting her hands gently on Charlie's hips, "And from what I hear you do your job pretty well...so it must've been quite a big thing for you to take a step back from going after him...for my sake. I know he's not the best guy in the world but he's my big brother...he means a lot to me...so thank you. But...ah...I'm a little bit more concerned about the fact Darryl hurt you."

Charlie smiled softly at Joey's honest distress that Brax had hurt her and couldn't resist thinking that it was adorable that Joey could get away with calling her brother by his actual name, "Well like I said it wasn't really assault...it...ah...God do I feel stupid...Brax...um...kissed me."

Joey couldn't resist chuckling, "Isn't that meant to be romantic as opposed to assault? Remind me not to make the same move as Darryl did if it'll only end up giving me a criminal record that'd probably end my career!"

Ignoring the thought of Joey making the same move on her then and there, Charlie blushed, "You don't...seem quite that surprised...that your brother kissed me...why is that?"

Joey shrugged as she squeezed Charlie's waist and without thinking she admitted, "Oh I dunno probably 'cause this is all my fault. See when I went home after I saw you this morning Darryl got into an argument with me about spending time with you...he's jealous as hell and is totally crushing on you so I went and stupidly dared him to make a move on you before I could!"

Charlie's mouth fell open at Joey's admission, "You...wanted to make a...move...on me?"

Joey blushed deeply before giving into her feelings for Charlie with the only hope that Charlie returned them just as strongly and leant forwards to meet her lips...


And now I'll make you wait to find out if they kissed or not...who loves the suspense?

So did they kiss or not?

Could something have stopped them or did Charlie freak out?

Or did they finally give into their feelings for each other?

And aren't I so nice as to leave the Brax/Charlie kiss off the script so you didn't have to read all about it lol?

Next time - How will the girls act around each other post kiss/near-kiss (I'm not giving anything away!)?

PS - How 'bout that surf lesson? Was Charlie been clumsy on purpose just so she could fall into Joey's arms?