Chapter Thirty Six

March 1998 (Age 16)

Pippa was worried about the newest addition to her family. Ever since Charlie had arrived, having been somewhat ripped away from the children's home she had been brought up in, she had been subdued and withdrawn. She had been polite and was a very nice child. She chipped in with housework and she made an effort to get along with the other kids. She got on well at school and by all accounts had done well to make friends as well.

But every time Pippa looked at her, there seemed to be an emptiness behind her eyes, a deep sadness that worried her a great deal. She was aware that Charlie had left behind a friend that she cared a great deal about, and with whom she had tried and failed to make contact with at Christmas. But Pippa didn't know the story. She didn't know much of Charlie's story at all.

Now, watching the sixteen year old sitting outside the house on her own, watching the sun go down, with a wistful expression on her face, Pippa decided to take the plunge. She came and sat down beside her.

"You look like you've got the world on your shoulders," she remarked gently.

"Well, maybe not the whole world…" Charlie replied, still gazing at the sunset.

"Are you missing your friend?" Pippa asked. "The one you tried to call at Christmas?"

Charlie turned to her in surprise, wondering silently, how, after only a couple of months, she seemed to know her so well.

"Every single day," Charlie sighed.

"We could always try and call her again if you like," Pippa offered.

Charlie returned to look at the sunset and shook her head.

"I've written to her every day and we tried to call her that time," she said. "If she was interested, she'd have been in touch with me by now. She hasn't. She's not."

Pippa put a careful arm around Charlie's narrow shoulders.

"Would you tell me about her?" she asked.

Charlie weighed up her options, feeling torn between fright and the feeling of safety.

"On my first day at the kids' home, Joey rescued me," she explained. "I was getting harassed by some other girls and she stepped in and saved me. We were inseparable from that moment on. Until the day I was taken away from her."

She sighed heavily and took comfort in Pippa's arms, resting her head against her.

"She was the best thing that's ever happened to me, Pippa and now I just… I feel like part of me has died," she said sadly.

Pippa held onto her tightly and kissed the top of her head.

"We can really try and get hold of her," she suggested. "We could even go down there and…"

Charlie thought of Mrs John and shook her head.

"There's no point," she said. "Joey's gone. She's obviously broken up with me and didn't know how to tell me."

She felt Pippa freeze ever so slightly. She also froze. After a moment, she turned to look at her foster mother, searching her face.

"We were in love with each other," she confessed quietly. "That's why Mrs John wanted us apart."

Pippa nodded, keeping hold of the fragile girl in her care. Suddenly she understood why she was so upset, why she was so broken without her friend.

"Are you disgusted, Pippa?" Charlie asked fearfully.

"What? No, of course not, Charlie," Pippa said sincerely. "Why would I ever be disgusted?"

"Because I'm in love with another girl," the teenager replied, her voice still meek.

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with what you feel for this Joey girl," Pippa said. "She sounds wonderful. I just wish there was a way for you to still be together."

"Me too," Charlie said.

She sighed, although she was comforted by her guardian's acceptance. Sinking against her, she wept.

June 2012 (Age 30)

Angelo and Watson were still awake, watching a movie on TV, when Charlie and Joey arrived home from Pippa and Michael's house. The new couple had had a lovely evening and another evening, involving Charlie's foster siblings, had even been broached – to introduce Joey to the rest of the family.

"Hi, guys," Charlie greeted, letting herself into the house.

"Hi," Watson said, pausing the TV. "Hi, Joey."

She smiled with her usual warmth. They hadn't directly talked about anything yet but it was more than obvious that Joey was important to Charlie and Watson wanted to make her feel welcome in their home. Angelo merely grunted.

"Hi," Joey said, still lacking in confidence. "How are you?"

"Just peachy," Angelo snapped.

"We're good, thanks," Watson replied, ignoring her housemate.

Charlie glared at him and then smiled at Watson.

"How are you guys?" Watson asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said, a tell-tale sappy smile appearing on her face. "We're good, aren't we?"

Joey also smiled and then nodded. Realising exactly what they meant, Angelo looked horrified. Watson beamed at them, having expected this over the course of the last few days, even though she hadn't had an inkling up until now that Charlie was anything but straight. She couldn't wait to have a proper conversation with her friend about all of this when she got the chance. But she didn't want to embarrass Joey and she could do without Angelo shooting daggers at all of them throughout.

"Anyway, we're going to head up to bed," Charlie said. "It's been a pretty long day, what with the hearing and everything."

"Yeah, I was really sorry your friend didn't get bail," Watson told Joey earnestly.

"Thank you," Joey said. "Hopefully he'll get the charge reduced next week though."

"Don't count on it," Angelo murmured.

Joey looked stricken but Charlie squeezed her hand, encouraging her to follow suit and ignore him like she and Watson chose to. She nudged her towards the stairs, bidding them goodnight.

Upstairs, neither Charlie nor Joey needed privacy to get changed for bed. They talked as they undressed.

"Your housemate doesn't like me very much, doesn't he?" Joey remarked, slipping the t-shirt Charlie had loaned her over her head.

Clad only in a bra and underwear, Charlie turned to face her. Joey surveyed her slender, toned body with badly veiled interest and tried to focus on the conversation.

"Don't bother about Angelo," Charlie said. "His opinion is irrelevant."

"He must matter to you though," Joey pointed out. "I mean, you like him enough to live with him… You're friends…?"

Charlie moved to sit beside her on the bed.

"Angelo and I met at the academy," she said. "I've always been close to him. I um…"

She looked down, unsure of how to proceed.

"What?" Joey coaxed.

"I lost my virginity to him," she admitted. "For all the beautiful plans I made with you… it ended up being with him."

"You dated him?" Joey asked a little anxiously.

At least that explained why he didn't like her. He probably still had feelings for Charlie.

"No!" Charlie said quickly. "We had one horrible, awful, hideous one night stand. It was terrible. Like I said, for all the beautiful plans we made, my first time – and all the subsequent sexual encounters up until today – was just awful and meaningless."

Joey reached out to hold her hand.

"Like I told you before… I've just always been waiting for you," she said. "So… yes, Angelo is my friend and everything but these last few days, I've seen another side to him, a side to him I don't like. It makes me uncomfortable and I don't understand why he's being like this."

Joey chuckled softly, confusing Charlie.

"He has feelings for you," Joey explained. "That's why he's being like this."

Charlie shook her head.

"No way," she said. "He's never shown any interest in me since…"

She trailed off. Things had never been quite the same since the night she considered a mistake. And he was always a little weird with her when she hooked up with someone. And he always tried to rub it in her face when he did. Maybe Joey was onto something after all.

"But anyway," she said. "It doesn't matter. He doesn't matter."

She leant in and kissed Joey softly on the mouth. She grinned when she felt Joey reach around and unhook her bra.

"I thought you were tired," she murmured.

"I was just helping you get undressed…"

"And one handed," Charlie remarked, remembering her poor, broken hand. "I'm impressed."

Joey grinned and flung Charlie's bra onto the floor. Charlie moved to straddle Joey's hips. They kissed passionately. Their night was not over.

Brax was on the phone to the prison the very next morning, apparently innocently asking after the well-being of his friend, who he had been expecting a letter from since the beginning of the week, but who had not written. He just about managed to sweet talk the ignorant prison guard into letting him speak to him and he thus got confirmation that he had indeed assault Aden, who was now in the hospital wing. Then he armed Hayley with the information.

Charlie and Joey had had a lazy morning. Charlie was particularly enjoying not having to go into work for a few days, although she'd be back at the station the following day and she really wasn't looking forward to that. The pair had also made plans to go round to Hayley's house to pick up Joey's few belongings and, with Angelo and Watson's permission, move her into their house at least temporarily.

"How about we go for lunch at the Diner?" Charlie suggested when they were up and dressed.

"I have no idea where that is but sure," Joey replied compliantly.

Charlie grinned.

"It's the place to eat round here," she said. "It's owned by a really great woman called Ailsa and there's a fantastic ensemble of people who work there. You'll love them all."

"Sounds good," Joey grinned. "Count me in."

She gazed lovingly at Charlie, who blushed a little.

"What?" she wondered.

"I'm so happy at being part of your life," she said. "I'm so excited about the way forward."

"Me too," Charlie said.

She lifted Joey's non-broken hand and kissed it.

"This is the very beginning of the rest of our lives."

"The nurse is called Dexter Walker?" Hayley said into the phone.

She jotted the name down in her scrappy handwriting.

"And he attended Aden on the medical wing after he was assaulted last night?" she said. "And how is Aden doing?"

She put on her compassionate voice, having phoned the prison under the guise of being his lawyer, asking after him and wanting to know how he was. She apparently had his best interests at heart, after all.

"Oh, that's a shame," she said disingenuously, when she was informed that he had been very badly beaten and would be under medical care for at least a few days. "Well, I'll be in touch. Thank you for your help."

Next time… Joey learns of the assault on Aden and we discover more of her relationship with Hayley…