Okay, this is the hardest story to recover after my USB stick crash but I am doing my best! I lost twelve chapters so... ugh! But I'm getting there. Hope you like the chapter! IJKS
Chapter Nine
Everyone arrived at the hospital at the same time, observing each other with curiosity as they tried to figure out who should visit when. Opting to take it in turns, Morag suggested that they work out some kind of rota so that Charlie had visits round the clock but nobody was left hanging around or encroaching on each other's time with her. While Ross went in to see his little girl, the others worked out the times that suited all of them so that they could take it in fair turns to spend time with the woman they all cared so much about. Morag wondered, not for the first time, if, had Charlie known just how loved she was, would she have done what she did? Guilt washed over her as she wished to take her time back and be more caring and supportive of her step-daughter. She wasn't sure exactly what else she could have done. She'd stepped in as Charlie's lawyer as she fought suspicion over Grant's murder and she'd tried to be understanding and offer a listening ear when Charlie had come to her with fears that Angelo was being unfaithful. But obviously none of that had been enough. Sitting in the corridor, waiting for Ross to finish his visit, she eyed Angelo curiously. What had his role been in all this? Had he cheated on Charlie? Was it his fault that she was here? He looked back, his eyes heavy lidded and looking like he hadn't slept all night. He probably hadn't. Neither Ruby nor Joey looked like they had fared much better.
***
As the morning wore on, Joey waited patiently for her turn to see Charlie. Ross had gone in first and then Morag had joined him. They had headed home afterwards and were due to visit again the following morning. Now, Ruby was in there, spending time with the woman she had recently discovered was actually her biological mother. It left Joey sitting with Angelo in awkward silence. She didn't know what to say to him and he appeared to have nothing to say to her. They had already established that she was sticking around and he'd made it clear that he wasn't too keen on the idea. Charlie was his and his alone as far as he was concerned. And Joey didn't know what she and Charlie meant to each other anymore. Words from the letter she'd sent, whirled around her brain, confusing her and making her heart hurt. All she wanted to do was rush into her room and beg Charlie to wake up. She had missed her all this time and knowing that she may well lose her forever, just made it all harder.
***
Ruby sat by Charlie's bedside, delicately holding her hand. She clutched the letter in her other hand, having read it over and over again.
"Charlie, how could you ever think I'd be better off without you?" she asked sadly. "I could never be better off without you in my life. Even when I just thought you were my sister, my world revolved around you. You were always the one who took care of me, who stood up for me, who loved me. I love you, Charlie. I need you so much. Please wake up and come back to me."
***
"Do you want to go or shall I?" Angelo said stiffly when Ruby exited Charlie's room.
"You can," said Joey. "I'll wait."
Angelo wondered if perhaps he could take up most of the rest of the time so that Joey couldn't see Charlie for very long. He knew it was unkind but he couldn't seem to control the overwhelming urge to keep them away from each other, to keep Charlie to himself. He entered the room. Once the door was closed, Ruby came to sit beside Joey. They held hands and Ruby leant against her sister's ex-girlfriend.
"How was it?" Joey asked.
"It was okay," Ruby replied quietly. "It's hard seeing her like that. She usually so full of life, even when she's angry. Especially when she's angry."
Joey chuckled and held the younger girl a little closer. Seeing Charlie so frail and broken was going to be no easy task for however long she remained in her coma. All she could hope was that she didn't stay asleep for too long.
***
Inside Charlie's room, Angelo took in the surroundings. It was a nice, quiet room where Charlie could lie comfortably. She was laid flat on her back. There was a tube up her nose providing her with oxygen and she had a catheter down by the side of her bed. Her finger was attached her to a machine which as far as he could tell, was monitoring her heart rate, her blood oxygen levels and her blood pressure. He wasn't sure what the other two wavy lines indicated. She had needles in the back of her hand and was on a drip. He wondered exactly what they were doing for her and couldn't help but fret that she wasn't going to get through this. Her body, once so powerful and strong, looked so frail. Her usually tanned skin was ashen and her eyes were firmly closed. Sitting beside her, he took her hand gently in his and begged her to wake up.
***
Ruby had left to go and have lunch with Ross and Morag and Joey continued to wait in the corridor. It was twenty to twelve and Angelo had been in with his girlfriend for ages. She sighed and stretched her legs out in front of her, wondering if she was going to get to see her at all this morning.
"Are you alright there?"
Joey looked up and saw Charlie's nurse looking at her sympathetically.
"Yeah," she said. "Just waiting for my turn to see Charlie before visiting hours close for the afternoon."
"Is it her boyfriend in there now?" the nurse asked.
Joey nodded, looking and feeling sad. She still hated the thought of her being with Angelo. While she was sure he was a nice guy, she still couldn't help but want to claim Charlie for her own. She'd spent a lot of her waiting time telling herself not to be silly and selfish and reminding herself that this was about Charlie. It wasn't about her or Angelo or them competing over who loved her the most.
"He's been in there quite some time," the woman, Rebecca answered. "Do you want me to hurry him along?"
"You can try," Joey said. "But I doubt you'll be successful."
The nurse gave her a quizzical look.
"He doesn't like me. I wouldn't be surprised if he was taking as long with her as he could so that I had to go home without spending time with her."
"Well, that's not fair," Rebecca said.
She got up and headed into Charlie's room.
***
"What was she like on her last day?" Ross asked his wife and the girl he had raised as his daughter.
"I didn't see her," Ruby admitted quietly.
"Nor did I," said Morag. "I think she spent the last day choosing to be alone."
Ross nodded and sighed. He rubbed his head.
"When did you two last see her?"
He had never hated his illness more than now. If he wasn't sick then he wouldn't be living away from his daughter in some care home. He would have been happily married to Morag and living in Summer Bay around the people that he loved. And if he had been around, perhaps none of this mess would have happened. He could have helped somehow and been able to stop this tragedy.
"I saw her the day before... the day before," Morag said, staring at her salad. "She saw me in the morning. Everything seemed fine."
"And I saw her in the evening," Ruby said. "She um... she wanted to hang out."
"What did you do together?" Ross asked.
"Nothing. I was... I was too busy."
Her voice caught on the last word and she hurriedly brushed some tears away. Nothing would ever eradicate her guilt over that, especially if Charlie didn't pull through. Ross put his hand atop hers.
"It's okay, Ruby," he said gently. "You weren't to know."
"But maybe if I'd have spent time with her, she might not have..."
"I think she'd already planned it," Morag said. "Or else how would she have written to Joey in advance?"
***
"Hi," Rebecca said softly.
Angelo turned around, immediately worried that something was wrong.
"Sorry to disturb you. It's just that it's nearly the end of visiting hours and your friend wants to come and see her too."
"She's not my friend."
"Well, Charlie's friend then," Rebecca said. "It'd be nice if she got the chance before we have to close to visitors."
Gritting his teeth, Angelo nodded. He ought to have known that Joey wouldn't let him get away with his plan. She'd probably been busy seducing the nurse to get her onside, the way she'd seduced Charlie.
"I'll be out in a sec," he told her.
Rebecca nodded and smiled before moving out of the room.
***
Joey had managed to spend time with Charlie for all of ten minutes, and that was with Rebecca granting her a few minutes extra time. Now, she was sat in the Diner waiting for Aden to show up for lunch. She was due to visit again in the afternoon but again, she was following Angelo so who knew if she'd actually get her full amount of allotted time.
"Joey!"
She looked up to see one of her favourite people in the world approaching her table. Standing, she gathered Aden into her arms and held him tight, almost collapsing against him. He held onto her just as tightly and buried his face in her neck. Drawing away, they sat down at their table.
"I've missed you," Aden said.
"I've missed you too," she replied.
"How...?"
They were interrupted by Colleen hurrying towards them, with a notebook in her hands. However, she looked like she was ready to take notes about their lives rather than taking their order.
"How's Senior Constable Buckton?" she asked immediately.
Joey was surprised by how genuinely concerned she seemed.
"She's stable," she said. "But no improvement yet."
"I am sorry to hear about it all," Colleen said sympathetically. "Such a tragedy. She's a good woman. But then I suppose you know that or you would be here."
Joey smiled politely. The last thing she wanted to do was give Colleen information about her and Charlie. She didn't know how much people knew about them and it felt terribly inappropriate to talk about the whole thing. There were more important things going on than that.
"Colleen, could we order take out?" Aden asked.
"Of course," the waitress replied.
They ordered their meals and waited for the older woman to take them to the kitchen. Joey eyed him curiously.
"I just want to talk to you properly," he said. "Without listening ears."
***
Angelo spent lunch time alone. He was due to visit at two o'clock and then he had a shift at work that he wasn't looking forward to. Robertson grated on his last nerve and he did not relish the thought of being around him for the next however long. He thought he might crack up.
***
"So nobody knows about what drove her to this?" Ross asked.
He was still struggling to get his head around the whole thing and it was bordering on impossible.
"All I can think is that it was the murder investigation," Morag said. "Being accused of murdering that man... that awful, awful man... It doesn't bear thinking about it."
"I think it was my fault," Ruby said.
Both parental figures looked at her.
"What do you mean?" Ross asked.
"Well, she and I weren't exactly getting along, were we? I said some awful things to her over the last few weeks. I really hurt her. And then I couldn't even take time to be with her the night before she... before."
Morag put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Ruby, it wasn't your fault."
"She's wouldn't have just done this because of the murder charge. Charlie was stronger than that. It must have been something else and the only thing I can think of was that I was such a cow to her and she didn't think I loved her. But I do. I love her so much. I was hurt but I always loved her."
"Ruby, Charlie was struggling with other things too," Morag ventured.
"Other things?"
"She told me... she said she thought that Angelo was cheating on her."
Ross and Ruby set their jaws in the same manner at the same time.
"What?" Ross asked darkly.
"I don't think it was true," Morag said quickly.
"Well where did you get this from?" Ruby asked.
"Charlie had been shown some incriminating photographs of Angelo with some women. I think he was working undercover. That's what he said but he couldn't give her a proper explanation."
"If he hurt her..." Ruby snarled, her voice full of warning.
"I think it was a misunderstanding," Morag said, feeling bad for dropping Charlie's boyfriend in it.
"Yeah," Ruby said. "A misunderstanding that could have cost Charlie her life!"
