Things had settled down somewhat in the last hour. Joey was in Ruby's room changing Mathew's nappy, before she was going to put him down to sleep in the cot Leah had borrowed from the neighbours after we'd accepted her invitation to stay until we found our own place. I hated my daughter losing her room, but she assured me she was fine with sleeping on the couch for the time being.

I looked up as Ruby came back to the lounge room, her face all screwed up in distaste. "How can something as small as a baby make such a mess of their nappies, oh, and the smell," she said with a shudder and sat down next to me on the couch, while I chuckled, remembering Joey's similar response the first time she'd changed Mathew's nappy. It felt good that Ruby had accepted her little brother, then again, it wasn't a surprise because Mathew seemed to have that affect on any who held him in their arms.

"Charlie, why didn't you just save yourself all the potential problems with Brax and tell everyone that Mathew was Joey's son and not yours?" Ruby asked me.

"The same reason I won't lie about who Mathew's father is," I told her. "Believe me, I did think about lying, but that wouldn't be fair on all involved, especially Mathew who may want to know about his father when he's older and in the long run, lies always find a way out into the open."

"Like ours did."

"Exactly, and you remember how you felt when that secret finally came out?"

Ruby nodded. "Like I'd been betrayed by everyone I trusted," she said in a quiet voice. "And it made me doubt who I was and who I could trust."

"At the time, mum and dad thought it was the best option for them to adopt you and raise you as their own and they were right, but we should have told you the truth as soon as you were old enough to understand."

"I was so angry when I first found out and it still hurts that you all lied to me, but I get why you did."

"Well, I'm trying to change my ways," I said, "To be more open and honest and to learn from my past mistakes."

"I admire you for that," she said. "I just wish your desire to be a better person, didn't mean we were going to be stuck with the Braxtons sticking their noses into our lives."

"I certainly wish I could have severed all ties to that family completely, but that became impossible the moment Mathew came along and we're just going to have to deal with things as best we can."

"You could have come without Mathew or had Joey come and explain things to me, then I could have gone to you and then no one need ever have known about him at all, at least until he was older and could make his own choices."

"Joey and I did talk about whether I should personally come back or not," I said to her, "But in the end, I realised that coming back and facing the music was just something I had to do for my own peace of mind and in all honesty, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to come back if Joey and Mathew hadn't been with me."

"I'm still trying to get over the fact you two are together again."

"So am I," I replied with a grin.

Ruby looked at me, her face a picture of concentration. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you looking so happy with someone, not even with Brax when I thought he was the one for you," she said, "That is, before I learnt what a complete jerk and waste of time he was."

"Joey is definitely the one for me," I said with utter certainty. "She makes me feel things I didn't know were possible and the love and support she's given to me, even before we became a couple again, has really helped me to become a better person."

"Oooh, Charlie's in lurve," Ruby teasingly sang at me.

"Very much in love," I replied and knew I was grinning like an idiot.

"Wow, I didn't think I'd ever hear you say you were in love with another woman with such certainty and without a hint of embarrassment."

"I'm a different woman to the one who first broke Joey's heart and the new me isn't afraid to shout my love for her to the world."

"Damn, I wish Colleen was still here and I could see her face when you did that," Ruby said cheekily.

"Colleen's gone?"

"Yep, she went to join her Lancey."

"Wow, I thought she'd be a permanent fixture in the Bay," I said, "But it seems like quite a few things have changed while I've been gone."

"Including me," she murmured so softly I barely heard her. "I've hurt my friends and very nearly did something that could have ended in tragedy."

"Leah didn't tell Joey the details, but she did mention during one of their calls, that you nearly did something drastic, yet you stopped yourself."

Ruby nodded. "I was already in a bad place by the time Danny Braxton arrived in town and I think he spotted an easy target and so I stupidly listened to some of the things he was talking about and nearly did something incredibly dumb, but at the last minute, I imagined what you'd think of my actions and that helped me to change my mind." She sighed and looked at me. "Don't you want to know what it was I was going to do?"

"Only if you want to tell me," I gently told her.

"I was going to cut the brakes to Indi's new car."

I tried to, but couldn't quite stop my brows rising in shock.

"Yeah, that's kind of the look I imagined you'd have giving me if I'd gone ahead with it and I guess now, you're disappointed that I'd even think of doing something so terrible."

"From someone who has done some questionable things of my own, I'm not going to judge you Ruby," I told her, "But I will say I am proud of you for not just realising how wrong your actions would have been, but for stopping yourself," which I wish I had done at times, I said to myself, "And for telling Leah and then letting her help you to move on."

"You're proud of me?" she murmured with disbelief.

"You were going through a hard time and from what Leah told Joey, you had already made some mistakes, so you could easily have taken that extra step over, but you didn't and I have to admire the courage it took for you to go to Leah and tell her what you had intended to do and I'm also pleased that after all you've been through, you decided to go back to your studies."

"I wasn't sure at first about going back to Uni, but then I thought of how disappointed you'd be in me if I just threw it all away and it did offer up a good distraction to everything else."

I reached over and put my hand on her knee. "Ruby, I want you to know, that while I haven't always been the best sister or mother, I could never be disappointed in you."

She threw her arms around me and I held her tight. "Thank you Charlie."

"I really am sorry I haven't been here for you."

Ruby moved out of my embrace. "I'm still pissed off you're not dead," she said, before frowning. "Well, you know what I mean, I think."

I laughed. "Yeah, I do. You hate that you were lead to believe I was dead, only to find out it was all a lie."

"Yeah."

"I feel the same way." Even more so since I knew the real reason for my 'death'.

"Well, you're home now, that's all that matters," Ruby said.

"Yeah it is and I never intend to leave you ever again."

"I'm a big girl now, Charlie and I'm the one who's likely to be leaving you some time in the future."

"I know you're going to want to spread your wings one day and move away, but I'm always going to be there for you, Ruby."

"And I'm never going to be far away, because I want to see my little brother growing up."

"He's going to be a very lucky boy to have you as a big sister."

"I think he's already lucky to have two mums who love him so much."

"Mathew is going to grow up being well loved, that's for sure."

"You do realise how hard it's going to be to move out of this house now that Leah has fallen for him, don't you?"

"I'll be sure to enlist her help for babysitting duties so she can spend as much time with Mathew as she wants to, but we're going to have to leave here eventually, because there's not enough room for all of us to stay."

"When you do go looking for a place, find one with a spare room, for you know," she said and shrugged, "In case I ever decide to move out of here."

"A spare room is a good idea," I said nonchalantly, while I was grinning on the inside at the prospect Ruby was now open to the idea of eventually moving in with us, especially after she had been so noncommittal earlier. I took my daughter's hand and held it while I looked her in the eyes, "Things are really going to be different this time Ruby," I said to her. "My priorities have changed and while I'm still a police officer, I'm not going to let it overrun my life like I have in the past, because you, Joey and Mathew are more important to me than anything else."

"I guess that's why you don't seem too fazed about your demotion, even though you worked so hard to get where you had been."

"Seeing as how I could have easily have been fired or even charged for some of the stupid things I did while I was with Brax, then yeah, I'm ok with only being a Constable now, as it will still give me the chance to right a few things I did wrong, and it will also allow me to spend more time with my family as I will no longer be bogged down with the extra responsibilities that came with being a Sergeant."

"It's still kind of hard to believe that falling for a man has led to all of this happening."

"Even before Brax, my behaviour had been somewhat questionable at times."

"Still, I wish the Braxtons had never come to Summer Bay," Ruby murmured and if not for Mathew and it leading to Joey being back in my life, then I would wholeheartedly agree with her. "And those bastards had better not cause any trouble for my family," Ruby said, "Or I'll give them hell."

My heart swelled at her use of 'my family' because I knew it meant more than just me, but I didn't say anything; Ruby certainly seemed more comfortable with the situation, I just didn't want to get ahead of myself as I knew there was still a long way to go before she would be able to really trust me again, but it was a start. "I think it best we all do our best to steer clear of them whenever possible."

Ruby nodded. "The same goes for that Grace chick as well if she has any ideas about getting Joey back."

"That's definitely not something we'll have to worry about," I told her. "Joey and Grace have been over a long time and while Joey considers her a friend, that's all they will ever be."

"Good, because I'd hate to see anything come between the two of you again."

"After losing Joey once and then finally having her back in my life, it made me realise just how much I truly love her and so I'm never letting anything come between us again," I told Ruby with absolute surety.

"Oh god, what a day," a young and attractive woman I'd never seen before said when she walked into the lounge room and then came up short when she noticed me. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you had a visitor Ruby."

"Hi Natalie," Ruby said.

Just as I now knew who she was, I could tell from the look that suddenly came over the poor woman's face and the way her eyes darted to the photo of Ruby and me on the mantelpiece, that she also realised who I was. I wasn't quite sure what to say on finding myself face-to-face with a woman who had been involved with Brax, especially as I had no idea how she was going to react to my return or to the news that Brax was now a father.