Slowly opening her eyes, Charlie becomes aware that sometime in the night she had stolen the covers and instead of stealing them back, Joey had followed them. Her heart pounding as she feels the warmth of Joey snuggled up against her, her leg draped over hers, her hand resting just under her breast and with her head resting on her shoulder, Charlie half wishes she hadn't worn this particular nightgown as Joey's warm breath on her bare skin was doing all sorts of things to her nerves. Smiling at the feelings, Charlie kisses the top of Joey's head, wondering how it could feel so right to be feeling what she did for a married woman. Frowning as she starts to think that she was no better than her father and Morag cheating on her mother, her doubts are quickly dispelled when she looks down and finds herself gazing into warm, sleepy brown eyes.
"Hey, you're awake," she says gently as Joey looks confused before her eyes widen as she finally realises where she was.
"Oh god, sorry," Joey moves off her.
"It's ok, I was obviously hogging the covers," feeling the loss of her warmth against her.
"I suppose I should have mentioned that I tend to gravitate to the warmest spot in the bed."
"I'm not complaining." Rolling on her side to watch Joey, Charlie's pleased when Joey faces her.
Joey smiles shyly at her, "I think that was actually the best sleep I'd had in some time."
"Me too." Lying on their sides, face to face, Charlie can't resist moving closer, their bodies touching when her lips gently find Joey's. "I'm sorry," Charlie whispers against her lips. "I wasn't really thinking," still holding her body against Joey, neither of them making any effort to move apart.
"I'm not complaining," Joey says, closing the short distance to capture Charlie's lips.
Charlie felt like she was in heaven, her body alive with sensations wherever it pressed against Joey, her nipples hard against Joey's through their tops, their kisses slow and long, so different to the alcohol fuelled passion of the other night or the usual frantic possession of Angelo. Savouring each leisurely kiss as the minutes pass by, wanting it to last forever, Charlie finally pulls back slightly, smiling as she caresses Joey's face, "Joey, I have no idea where these feelings came from and I've never been attracted to women before but I can't get you out of my head."
Joey grins, "You've become a bit of a distraction in my head too."
"We need to talk about where things are going between us."
"Charlie, things shouldn't be going anywhere between us."
"I know, but considering we've just spent the last half hour making out in bed together, I think it's obvious that something is happening."
Joey rolls onto her back, the realities of the situation crashing down on them. "I was feeling so much better moments ago."
Charlie chuckles, "I take it your head is feeling better too?"
"It was," she says with a slight pout.
Propping herself up on her elbow, Charlie gazes down at her. "Do you want me to kiss it better?"
"What happened to talking?"
"It can wait until we're not in bed." Brushing the hair from Joey's face, "Now, do you want me to kiss it better?"
"I don't know," Joey sighs dramatically, all thoughts that they were making a mistake gone when she sees the look of lust in Charlie's eyes. "It really hurts."
Leaning closer, her lips centimetres from Joey's, "I'd better started then."
"Fuck," Joey mutters before Charlie can close the distance.
Charlie flops on to her back in frustration, the loud banging at the door spoiling the mood.
"That will be Graves."
"How do you know that?" Charlie asks as she tries to steady her racing heart.
"Because she really has the worst timing of anyone I've ever known and it sounds like her type of annoying banging." Throwing the covers back, Joey sits on the edge of the bed.
"You ok Joey?"
"I'm just taking a moment so I don't go out there and strangle her."
"Take your time, I'd hate to arrest you."
Moving to the door, Joey looks back at Charlie on the bed. "I think I kind of like the idea of you and handcuffs," Joey says, leaving a blushing Charlie struggling to maintain her composure at the images Joey had just provoked. Suddenly realising it wouldn't be a good idea to be caught in the spare room, Charlie makes her way to her own room, wondering if it was wise to let Joey answer the door wearing the shorts and tank top she'd loaned her to sleep in. "Oh god, please let it be Graves."
Not caring who was actually at the door or that she was hardly dressed to be greeting any one, Joey swings the door open, annoyed to find Graves looking a picture of innocence, the hands that had been banging loudly, now behind her back. "What are you doing here Graves?"
"There were a couple of fires last night, so Georgie had to go in early and she asked me to check to see if you were ok."
"I'm fine."
Noticing her flushed and dishevelled appearance, Graves smirks, "So I can see."
"Don't start, I'm really not in the mood."
"Not for me anyway," Graves mutters as she walks into the house.
"Don't say anything to Georgie ok?"
"Is there something to say?"
Joey leans against the back of the couch, her arms folded. "I don't know, things are just all over the place at the moment."
"Joey, if you want to get involved with Charlie, that's your business, I just don't want to see you hurt and I sure as hell don't want to be caught between you and your sister."
"Fair enough. So how's Georgie doing?"
"She's still upset at having killed someone, even a dirt bag like Cruze."
"Any word from the C.I.I. Team?"
"Nothing official yet, but the word is that Georgie will be in the clear."
"I'm glad."
"Well, I can see that you're alright, so I should be getting to the station."
"Can you drop me off at home?"
"I thought you'd be staying here?"
Joey looks down at what she was wearing, "I need some clothes."
"And a cold shower," she jokes, earning herself a frosty glare. "Sorry."
"Just give me a moment to get my things and let Charlie know."
Having taken quite a few moments to say goodbye to Charlie and promising that they'd talk later, Joey was finally standing under a cold shower, going over everything that had happened that morning. "What are you going to do now, Joey," she mutters as she turns the water off.
Going nuts at home thinking over everything, Joey heads to work, even though she knew that seeing Charlie again wouldn't make things any easier. Walking quickly to her office, Joey had just sat down when her sister entered. "Joey, you look like shit."
"Gee, thanks sis."
"Sorry." Sitting on her desk, she lifts Joey's chin up to stare into her eyes. "Yep, looks like you're all in there today."
Swatting her sister's hand away, Joey sits back in her chair. "You're not looking too great yourself sis."
"Had a little trouble sleeping last night." Watson looks down at the floor, "Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his face."
"Georgie, stop beating yourself up over this, he was going to kill me and Charlie, you didn't have a choice."
"I know that and Charlie just told me that Robert Cruze's death has been ruled as a just shooting. I know we carry guns every day we're at work but I always hoped I'd never have to use it."
"I'm sorry Georgie, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have been put in a position where you had to kill him."
"Just promise me you won't do something so stupid again."
"You know I can't promise that, because it's not something I do deliberately."
Watson shakes her head, "What am I going to do with you?"
"I promise to try not to do something so stupid again."
"That's better than nothing. Did your nightmares return last night?" Watson asks, knowing from previous experiences that stressful situations tended to bring them back.
"They weren't so bad," not wanting to elaborate too much in case she had to explain what made the nightmares go away. "What about you?" Joey grins suddenly, "I heard you had company last night; did your visitor manage to drive the bad dreams away and help you to get some sleep at least?"
"Let's just say that my mind was otherwise occupied and I didn't get a whole lot of sleep." Watson stands, "Did Graves tell you anything about the fires last night?"
"Only that there were a couple, why?"
"They were deliberately started and they just happened to be in abandoned houses in the area where we got Robbo. Graves and I are just about to meet with Charlie, I suppose you want in on it?"
"Of course," Joey readily agrees, hoping she didn't do something stupid when she saw Charlie.
Graves tries to smother her smile at Charlie and Joey's attempts to act natural with each other while she was starting to wonder just how far things had gone between them last night. Grimacing when a foot connects to her ankle, she spares a brief glare at Joey before turning her attention back to what Watson was saying.
"The arson squad detected accelerant at both houses and they were totally gutted. If there was any evidence that Robbo had been there, it's all gone."
"Was anyone seen in the area?" Charlie asks.
"No. There's very few houses in that area and there's a big gap between the properties around there."
"Is there a chance that the houses had nothing to do with Robbo?"
"I don't think so Graves. We'd already checked those houses when Robbo escaped and we saw no signs of anyone being there, but it seems too much of a coincidence that the night we get Robbo, those two house were burnt down," Watson tells her.
"Obviously he had friends who wanted to cover something up, but what? It can't just be all about stolen booze and cigarettes, can it?"
"I don't know Charlie, that whiskey I saw in the mine was expensive stuff and there's a lot of money in peddling booze and cigarettes."
"But all the stuff was in the mine, so why did they burn the houses down unless they were covering up more?"
"She has a point Joey, with Robbo dead, it wouldn't have mattered if we found out where he was staying unless there was a lot more to find."
"I suppose Graves and the fires have certainly destroyed any evidence of what was going on there."
"I have an idea of what may have been going on," Watson says, all eyes now on her. "The preliminary report shows that there was evidence of at least six beds in just the one house and one bed had a chain attached to what was left of the bed leg."
"Chains?" Charlie says with a sick feeling.
"Shit, that makes sense," Joey says. "The girls from the Maru were most likely destined to be sex slaves and they would have needed to stash them somewhere."
"But we'd checked those places before," her sister reminds her.
"They probably move them about and don't stay anywhere too long and when word got out about Robbo, they must have just grabbed what they could and burnt the places down because it was quicker."
"I can arrange to have patrols go out there each night, hopefully that will discourage them from using the other abandoned buildings out there."
"Good in theory Charlie, but people like this will always have somewhere else to set up."
"I know Joey, but we can't just sit back and do nothing."
"I need to get back out on patrol," Watson says standing up. "I'll swing by the area and have another look."
"I'll go with you," Graves offers.
"Just be careful guys."
"Don't worry Charlie, unlike my hard-headed sister, we are models of responsibility," giving her sister an affectionate ruffling of her hair.
"Georgie!" Joey says in annoyance as her sister and Graves leave. "Models of responsibility, not bloody likely," she mutters. Turning her attention back to Charlie, Joey's breathe catches at the look on Charlie's face. Trying to ignore it, she asks where Robbo got the booze.
"The booze and cigarettes were from a serious of burglaries in bottle shops months ago; he must have committed them just before he left on the long haul and stashed them in the mine."
"How did he know about the tunnel system to the mine?"
"There were always rumours about the place, but people tended to steer clear of the place because the owner was a paranoid conspiracy theorists who mistrusted everyone and had a tendency to shoot rock salt at anyone who set foot there. Robbo was his nephew and he stayed with his uncle for a few years as a teenager when his parents died so he probably found out about the tunnels then. The mine was abandoned years before the house was ever built and the rumours I heard as a kid were that Robbo's uncle had the tunnels dug out in case he ever had to run from the aliens."
"Aliens?"
"I did say he was paranoid." Charlie takes a deep breath, "Joey, about this morning."
"Charlie," she cuts her off, "I don't think this is the right place for that. I should be getting back to work."
Joey makes a hasty exit, leaving Charlie feeling confused and hurt by her abruptness.