Chapter Ten

That evening, now that everyone knew that they were together, Charlie and Joey prepared to face the Bay. They had booked a romantic table for two at the Diner and Leah had been only too happy to oblige. She wanted to be supportive of her housemates during what she knew was a frightening time. Charlie had been called into work to be told that Brett had made a complaint against her but that it had been dismissed. Charlie had never been so glad to have come out first. If she hadn't handed Joey's case over, goodness knows what might have happened to her and Joey. Entering the Diner, Charlie took a deep breath and held her girlfriend's hand. There was a hushed whisper. Between Brett's vandalism and the complaint, the truth had got around the town very quickly. Leah approached them and showed them to their table. They had agreed to seat themselves in the corner so that they didn't draw any unnecessary attention to themselves but weren't hiding away. Colleen stared at them from behind the counter, turning a little pink and trying to figure them out. The women tried not to notice or let it bother them but Joey was as afraid of all the attention as Charlie was, even though she had had far longer to come to terms with her sexuality than she had.

Charlie and Joey had finished their dinner without incident, except for the fact that a few people had been obviously talking about them and Colleen hadn't stopped staring as if they were Martians.

"Where to next, my lady?" Charlie asked with a grin.

"We could go for a drink at the Surf Club," Joey suggested.

Charlie nodded, left a tip on the table, took Joey's hand and led her out. Behind them, they could hear Colleen squawking about how she didn't understand how two women could be together in the way and man and a woman would be. They left the conversation behind and headed into the Surf Club together, resisting the urge to show her. Martha was serving behind the bar with Alf and she greeted them warmly.

"How's it going?" she asked. "I hear congratulations are in order."

Charlie blushed, glad that Martha didn't have any problems with her new relationship.

"Thanks," she said. "The day's been fairly testing but... it's good."

"I heard about your car, love," Alf said, joining the conversation.

Charlie nodded. After she'd returned from speaking to her boss, Charlie had found Joey working her socks off by scrubbing the side of the car, trying to make it graffiti-free again. Charlie had joined her and they had ended up in an amusing water fight, followed by shower sex. It really hadn't been such a bad day after all.

"Yeah, we cleaned it off today," Charlie said.

"Was it...?" Alf looked a little awkwardly at Joey.

"It was my brother," she confirmed. "We're not really talking right now."

"He was in here shooting his mouth off earlier," Martha said. "He's barred for a long while."

Charlie and Joey thanked them both for their support.

"Makes no odds to us who you fall in love with," Alf said pleasantly. "You're still the same people – and wonderful people at that."

He nudged their glasses towards them.

"These are on the house," he said.

They thanked him graciously and took their drinks to a table. Sitting down, the both grinned at each other.

"Here's to us," Joey said, proposing a toast.

"Wonderful people," Charlie agreed.

They clinked their glasses together and dared to share a brief but loving kiss.

The couple stayed drinking wine together for a few hours. Aden had popped by to chat to them and offer a few incredulous but delighted comments that they had 'finally got it on' and they had managed to successfully ignore the gossip that surrounded them. They looked up when Hugo approached them and sat down without asking permission.

"I hear you've been making waves today," he said pleasantly. "I guess I should have known after our date."

Charlie blushed and hoped he wouldn't say what she feared he would. He turned to Joey.

"She pretty much spent the entire night talking about you."

Joey giggled and held Charlie's hand. Charlie swigged her drink and thanked Hugo sarcastically.

"But really Charlie, you could have put me out of my misery sooner," he continued. "If I'd have known you were gay then I wouldn't have been so offended by you keep turning me down."

"I'm not gay," Charlie said quickly.

Joey frowned.

"I don't know what I am," Charlie explained. "Except that I'm desperately in love with Joey."

Joey looked elated and Hugo looked surprised. Charlie had always struck him as the kind of person who kept her cards close to her chest. Being so open was rather out of character.

"Maybe I'm bi or... I don't know. I don't care about labels," Charlie said, talking more to Joey than Hugo.

She looked into her partner's eyes and suddenly the whole of the rest of the world fell away.

"I love you," she said. "And I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I know all of this has been confusing and difficult but it's been worth it."

She suddenly looked worried. Hugo excused himself but it went unnoticed.

"Has it been worth it?" Charlie asked.

"Most definitely," Joey said. "I've waited my whole life for you."

They kissed without a care in the world.

Oh wow, this has to be my most angst-free story to date. Look at that, we survived Charlie coming out completely unscathed! Hooray! I hope you enjoyed this story. Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to review. And I shall be back later today posting the first chapter of a new story called Beyond Reason. It's a 'what would happen if Joey returned?' fic. Much Angelo idiocy but much Charlie and Joey romance. Thanks again for reading this story. Love, IJKS xx