I meant to say when I first introduced them but the cats in this story are real. Ruby is mine (named by the RSPCA way before I watched Home and Away) and Indi is her brother, who lives with an ex of mine. I just thought I would put them into context! I hope you're enjoying the story. We're delving deeper into it now. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Twelve

Ten weeks ago...

The following morning, Charlie woke up at seven thirty. Yawning and stretching, she hauled herself up and off the sofa bed, which had been surprisingly comfortable. Wrapping her dressing gown around her, she padded down the stairs and into the kitchen. The camera crew were already there and Joey was bustling about the kitchen in her pyjamas.

"Morning!" the younger woman said cheerfully. "Coffee? Tea?"

It felt ever so strange for Charlie not to be the person making breakfast and playing the hostess. She requested a black coffee with no sugar and sat down at the table. Joey poured the hot liquid into the cup and greeted Sam who wandered in and sat down next to Charlie. Joey immediately set about making a third cup and the two of them sat down together.

"Did you sleep okay?" Joey asked. "We just bought the sofa bed so I don't know exactly how comfortable it is."

"It was fine," Charlie assured her.

Joey smiled in relief.

"So, what does your day look like?" Charlie asked conversationally.

"Well, I'll get your bath run in a minute and then I'll get ready myself," Joey said.

Charlie still hadn't quite got her head around the idea of Joey running a bath for her. It made her feel ever so lazy.

"I'm fine just having a shower," she protested.

"Rules," Sam reminded her.

"It's fine," Joey said.

She took breakfast orders and got up to start providing. Charlie sat back in her chair, nursing her coffee and watching Joey work. She seemed like such a sweet person. Charlie couldn't help but wonder why she allowed herself to be treated like a slave. Next to her, Sam studied Charlie's face.

"So, what's your boyfriend like?" she asked.

Surprised, Charlie turned back to Sam and smiled politely. She seemed like a nice enough girl, although she blatantly took advantage of Joey too.

"He's lovely," she said. "He's a cop, same as me. He's great."

"What do you think he'll make of his girlfriend coming into a house of lesbians?" Sam asked.

At the kitchen counter, Joey listened with interest.

"I don't actually know, to be honest," Charlie admitted. "He has a bit of a problem with me being bi so..."

Sam choked on her coffee.

"You're bisexual?"

Charlie nodded. Joey steeled herself to present toast to Charlie and Sam before sitting down to her own food.

"He thinks bisexuals don't exist though," Charlie explained between bites of breakfast. "He thinks we're misguided and should just choose one gender or the other."

"That's ridiculous," Joey said. "Of course bisexuals exist. Maybe some people do prefer one over the other but they're totally capable of liking both."

"Thank you!" Charlie grinned. "Finally a partner who understands me!"

The two women smirked at each other. Charlie was sure that she was going to have a nice time in this house. She already thought Joey was awesome.


In Summer Bay, Mel was dressed in her new police uniform. It was strange and amusing. She'd only worn this kind of outfit for nights out or nights in before. But she figured she looked good in it anyway. Angelo was also dressed up and ready for work and Ruby had left the breakfast table to pack her school bag. It had been Mel's duty to make breakfast and the understanding was that Ruby would do the dishes when she got back from school that afternoon. Mel was grateful that at least she didn't have to do that on top of working a full day and taking charge of cooking and ironing. Already she was wondering how Joey coped at home with all that she had to do. However, she was not quite willing to give up her life of leisure yet.

"Ready to go?" Angelo asked.

"As I'll ever be!" Mel said brightly.


Lying in a hot bubble bath, Charlie could help but feel pretty happy. While she would feel extremely selfish to have this kind of treatment every day, as a one off, she thought it was lovely to be waited on a little. It certainly wasn't what she was used to at home. She doubted Angelo would ever consider doing something like this for her. She wondered if she ought to mention it and hope he took the hint. Joey had brought her a glass of juice before she'd got in and told Charlie she had half an hour before she would need to start getting ready for work. Sipping her drink, Charlie mused over her new surroundings. The house was lovely and while she hadn't quite figured Sam out yet, she thought Joey was a sweetheart. She was very much looking forward to getting to know her and maybe make her life a little easier next week.


Mel tried hard to remember people's names she was introduced one by one to her colleagues. A lot of them were hot, which helped, although she thought Angelo was the most attractive of all of them.

"So, do I get to arrest people and fight crime?" she asked him hopefully.

He chuckled and shook his head.

"Not exactly," he said. "You can come on a patrol with me but you're a little limited as to what you can do. Charlie's real life revolves around catching the bad guys but as you're not really a cop, you need to keep it tame."

She nodded a little grumpily.

"And we need you to sign this confidentiality clause," he added, thrusting a piece of paper at her.


Joey checked she had everything she needed and was just about to leave the house when Charlie came down the stairs looking stunning. The boat manager was surprised and felt a little guilty to feel her heart skip a little at the sight of her. She really was breathtaking.

"You all set for a morning's work?" she asked.

"I think so," Charlie said. "Although I don't know much about beauty."

"I find that hard to believe!" Joey grinned.

Charlie blushed and gazed at Joey for a moment too long. Sam interrupted them by skipping down the stairs and asking Charlie if she was ready.

"Sure," Charlie said quickly.

She still couldn't quite take her eyes off Joey, who wished her luck and hoped she had a good day.


Ruby was glad to get to school and away from the cameras. Meeting up with Xavier in class, she hugged him.

"How's it going without Charlie?" he asked.

Everyone knew how much mother and daughter relied on each other. She sighed unhappily and admitted that she was missing her desperately.

"What's the new woman like?" Nicole asked from across the way.

Ruby just shrugged. She hadn't quite figured Mel out yet but there was something about her she didn't quite feel comfortable with. She spoke very freely about sex and had flirted a hell of a lot with Angelo so far. Knowing that Angelo had once betrayed Charlie, something Ruby had never forgiven him for, she couldn't help but feel a little concerned.

"She seemed nice to me," Xavier piped up.

"Being hot doesn't make you automatically nice!" Ruby said.

He looked sufficiently guilty and apologised.


Joey and Aden waited on deck for the arrival of their morning customers. They were all ready to set sail and with little to do before their guests arrived, Aden was quick to interrogate his boss and best friend about her new wife. Joey looked across the deck, ensuring that the camera and sound crew were busy setting up for the day.

"She is gorgeous!" Joey admitted, relieved to finally have got it off her chest.

She felt ever so guilty for being attracted to another woman. It rarely happened and she had always been faithful to Mel but something about Charlie had immediately got under her skin. Aden's eyes lit up.

"Really?" he said. "You don't plan on dumping Mel for her, do you?"

The hope in his voice was obvious. He and Mel had never got on, not since the night that she had tried to take him to bed, right in front of Joey. His best friend had insisted that she didn't mind but he knew she did. And he hated that Mel hurt her so much.

"Not quite!" Joey replied. "She's just... nice to look at!"

"What's she like as a person, Ms Superficial?" Aden asked with a smirk.

"She's pretty cool, actually," Joey said. "I like her. I think we'll get on pretty well."


At lunch time, Mel was eager to go home. She was disappointed to learn that she was merely getting a lunch break before the afternoon shift started. Angelo drove them to a local Diner and they ordered their meals. Several locals, including a woman called Colleen and a man called Roman, came over to introduce themselves. Mel was certain that Roman had checked her out. And she had unashamedly done the same back and decided that perhaps this town wouldn't be so bad after all. She missed Sam and Joey but she felt like she was settling in well.


"What am I meant to do now?" Charlie asked when she was packed up and ready to leave the salon.

"Go home and chill, go shopping... do whatever you want," Sam told her.

The morning had gone pretty well. Charlie had wisely stayed away from cutting hair but she had done a couple of women's nails and washed people's hair. It had all been mildly amusing although she didn't think she could do it for the rest of her life. She loved being a cop far too much.

"Okay," Charlie said a little unhappily.

She said goodbye to everyone and jumped into Mel's car, opting to go home. Once she'd arrived at the house, she paced for a bit, wondering if she could get away with doing the dishes from breakfast in order to help Joey out or else find something else useful to do. She sat on the couch and cuddled both the cats for a little while before wandering around the house and trying to figure out what to do with herself.


Ruby arrived home from school with Xavier. She felt like she needed moral support for her evening with Mel. Leaving her boyfriend in the lounge, Ruby headed upstairs to get changed out of her uniform. Coming back downstairs, she did the dishes and chatted to Xavier, wondering what would be in store for them this evening as they got to know Mel.


Charlie fought the urge to do the washing up. She knew it was against the rules and not what Mel would do with her afternoon of freedom. But it was almost impossible. She'd watched some television and played with cats, musing the kind of rules she might put in place next week. At five fifteen, Sam sauntered through the door and greeted her. The cats scampered away upstairs.

"How did you enjoy your afternoon off?" Sam asked pleasantly, coming to sit beside Charlie.

"It was boring!" Charlie complained. "I'm totally not used to sitting around doing nothing."

Sam laughed.

"Well, maybe tomorrow you can stay on at work and get some treatment done," she suggested.

She took Charlie's hand and nodded at her nails.

"You could do with a manicure!"

Charlie blushed. Her nails were definitely not anything special.

"The bane of being a cop!" she laughed.

They looked up when Joey walked through the doors. The cats bounded down the stairs and back to her. She crouched down and gave them some fuss before dumping her bag and approaching Charlie to ask how she was.


That evening, Mel was feeling tired. She stood in the kitchen and glared at everything around her. She didn't think she could cook, let alone did she want to! Joey was in charge of that kind of thing and that was the way she liked it. Angelo appeared in jeans and no shirt. She gave his body an appreciative glance.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah!" she lied.

"It's just... we're kind of hungry."

"I'll get there," she promised, feeling a little irritated.

She wasn't used to having to do things she didn't want to.


Charlie couldn't help but pay Joey compliments as they sat down to a delicious dinner. And Joey couldn't help but feel bashful about it. She wasn't used to the compliments but she definitely liked them and she thought Charlie's personality only made her more beautiful.

"So, how was your day?" Charlie asked.

"It was pretty good," Joey said. "We had some funny customers!"

Charlie grinned and sipped the wine Joey had poured for them.

"So, how long does a tour take?" Charlie asked.

"They take forty five minutes," Joey said. "And we do seven tours a day, on the hour."

"Could I maybe come sometime?" Charlie asked.

She wanted to take the opportunity to learn more about the area now that she was here and to have her own personal tour guide seemed like a brilliant idea. Joey looked elated.

"Of course you can!" she said. "I'd love to take you out."

Charlie beamed at her.

"Great!" she said. "We'll do it next week then. That way, I won't be breaking any rules!"


Next time... Mel struggles to fill Charlie's shoes, Charlie spends social time with Joey and Aden and Ruby and her friends analyse her new living situation...