Chapter Thirty-Seven

Ruby was up at seven o'clock the following morning. She sprang out of bed, got ready, skipped breakfast and hurried straight over to the hospital, opting to walk because waiting for Leah to get up and give her a lift was far too frustrating. She had slept fitfully all through the night, unable to block the image of Charlie from her mind.

***

Angelo hadn't slept. He hadn't stopped looking for Skip, who seemed to have disappeared without a trace. He had a team, including an adamant but sneezing Watson working the scene and he was not relishing the prospect of having to go and interview Charlie and Joey about their ordeal.

***

Joey woke up aching. Sleeping hunched over Charlie's bed was really not the most comfortable position in the world but she was determined not to leave her. She stretched and looked into Charlie's face. She saw the hint of a smile and couldn't stop herself from smiling too. It was overwhelming to realise that even though she had put Charlie in danger and that, despite what Charlie insisted, she had caused her to get hurt, here they were, just as much in love as they had been before Skip had attacked.

"Morning," Charlie said.

Joey greeted her with a soft kiss on her hand.

"I won't even try and ask you how you slept," Charlie teased. "You've got to promise me that you'll go home tonight, okay?"

"I can make no such promise, I'm afraid," Joey said.

***

Ross had spent an uncomfortable night on the sofa, having argued with Morag about how he'd treated Joey. She'd declared that attempting to force Joey away from Charlie when Charlie didn't want her to go was completely out of order. She'd pointed out that Joey must have been terrified and it must have been as much of an ordeal for her as it was for Charlie and wading in screaming and shouting was completely the wrong thing to do. Ross had felt the wind slip out of his sails. He had expected Morag to support him, to help him protect his child but she had done no such thing.

***

Ruby burst into Charlie's hospital room smiling and holding a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates.

"Hey, Charlie, it's me," Ruby said, trusting that Charlie would recognise her voice.

"Hey, Rubes," Charlie greeted happily.

"I brought you some flowers and chocolates," Ruby said, suddenly shy. "I know you can't see the flowers yet but you will when the bandages come off."

Ruby had been privately fretting that Charlie would not regain her sight. She hoped that if she said she would as if it was fact then soon enough it would come true.

"I can smell them," Charlie said, touched by her sister's gesture.

Ruby brought them forward and handed them to Charlie. Charlie lost herself in the scent and smiled.

"They're beautiful, pink roses," Joey told her.

Charlie smiled wider. Joey took them and put them on the side.

"And the chocolates are your favourites."

"You're too good to me!" Charlie enthused. "Now gimme!"

The girls giggled as Ruby undid the packaging and pulled up a seat beside the hospital bed, thrilled to see her sister in such good spirits.

"I'm going to go and find something to put the roses in," Joey said, deciding that Charlie and Ruby needed some time alone. She stole a chocolate on the way and headed out through the door.

***

Skip didn't know what to do next. One minute she had been completely in control. Charlie was almost deceased and Joey was a broken mess. The next minute, Joey had fought her and then she'd blacked out. When she'd woken, the women were both gone and she could see flashing blue lights in the distance. She'd fled then and now found herself sitting in a run down bed and breakfast outside of Summer Bay. She'd been grateful that an obviously fake name wasn't a problem to the owner and she'd already seen a few unsavoury looking people hanging around. She didn't want to stay but she had nowhere to go. The plan had failed miserably.

***

"Oh, Charlie, I was so worried about you," Ruby confessed.

Charlie attempted to raise the arm that was in a cast, wanted to comfort her little sister. Ruby watched her struggle and provided her hand so that Charlie could stay in a comfortable position.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Charlie said kindly. "I never should have gone to talk to Skip by myself. I feel like I've let you down."

"Don't be silly!" Ruby scolded.

Charlie apologised again.

"But next time you get a bright idea like that, remember all this, okay?"

"I don't think I'll forget it in a hurry," Charlie assured her.

"Are you in a lot of pain?"

"Just from head to toe. Rachel's giving me a tonne of painkillers and stuff but it's barely noticeable."

Ruby felt terrible for her.

"But when I can get these stupid bandages off my eyes, I think I'll feel better."

"That'll be today, right?"

"Should be."

They stayed holding hands in silence for a while before Charlie spoke up.

"Ruby, if it doesn't go well when they take off the bandages, I need you to stay calm, okay?"

"I will," Ruby squeaked, uncertain that she was telling the truth.

"Whatever happens, we'll cope. We'll all cope together."

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "How long will the rest of your recovery take?"

"Months, I guess. At best."

"I'll help Joey take care of you," Ruby promised.

"Thank you. I know it's going to be difficult so if I get grouchy at any point, I apologise now."

"Hey, I'm used to you being grouchy!" Ruby giggled.

Charlie protested playfully. They laughed. Ruby then surprised herself with tears. She broke away from Charlie's grasp to brush them away with both hands, grateful that Charlie couldn't see that she was crying.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked.

Ruby took in a startled breath.

"I might not be able to see you but I can hear you and feel you, Ruby," Charlie explained.

Ruby sighed and put her hands back into Charlie's.

"I just can't get over how close you came to… to…"

Now it was Charlie's turn to sigh.

"I'm sorry to bring it up but I was just so frightened, Charlie. I know I've got Dad but you… you've been everything to me for my whole life, especially after Mum… The thought of losing you, it just…"

She felt completely unable to finish sentences.

"When I was out there," Charlie began softly. "All I could think about was you and Joey. I thought it was over and I was devastated mostly because it meant I wouldn't see you again. I felt cheated that I was being taken away from the people I love most. They say when you're in the situation, you think about the most important things and you and Joey are the two most important things in my world. I love you, Ruby and I'm so glad I've been given the chance to tell you."

Ruby cried harder and clutched Charlie's hand tightly.

"I love you too, Charlie," she said softly.

***

Rachel caught up with Joey in the corridor and followed her into Charlie's room, wondering how she was feeling, physically and emotionally after everything that had happened. Joey assured her that everything was alright and that all she wanted to do now was take care of Charlie.

"How's the patient?" Rachel asked, arriving by Charlie's hospital bed.

"Blind. How's the Doctor?" Charlie said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Ready to make sure you've got your sight back," Rachel replied.

Ruby stepped back from the bed and held onto Joey's hand. Joey guided her round to the foot of the bed as Rachel began to undress the bandages wrapped around Charlie's eyes. They waited with baited breath, desperate to know that everything was alright. Rachel pulled back. Charlie felt the light stinging her eyes and then figured that could only be a good thing. She opened up.

"You guys could at least have been smiling when I saw you again," she said.

The elation and relief on Joey and Ruby's eyes was something to treasure. Rachel beamed as both women rushed forward and then halted, trying to find a suitable body part to hug. Charlie may have kept her vision but the rest of her was still severely damaged.

"We'll need to do some test on you shortly," Rachel explained to Charlie. "Just to check everything is definitely okay."

Charlie nodded, taking in the room that had before been shrouded in darkness. She had never been so grateful for her eyesight as she was in this moment. She looked down at Ruby who had flung herself onto Charlie's chest, attempting not to squeeze too tightly. She gazed at her unruly but pretty hair and was so grateful to be allowed to see it again. Then she looked up at Joey who was behind Ruby, having settled for Charlie's hand, the one she had been holding all night long. Joey was more beautiful than Charlie even remembered, although she had her own stitches across her eyebrow and she quite clearly hadn't slept well. Her hair was messy and dishevelled but to Charlie, she was the vision of perfection. When the girls had both pulled away from Charlie, the patient looked at her Doctor.

"So, can I go home now?" she asked.

Rachel shook her head.

"But I can see!"

"You'll be allowed home in a few days but Charlie, you have a lot of healing to do."

Charlie looked down her body. Her arm and leg were both in a cast and her left knee was severely swollen and bruised. She tried not to think about the state of her face.

"How long until all this gets fixed?" she asked.

"The knee, arm and cheekbone will all take a minimum of six weeks," Rachel said. "You arm will be in the cast for that time and then you can start with physiotherapy. We'll need to treat your knee from now to get it working again. Your cheekbone should heal by itself but we'll need to keep checking on it."

"And my leg?" Charlie asked worriedly.

The cast clung to her from her foot all the way past her knee. If she remembered correctly from last night, she had broken it in three different places.

"That's the thing we're most concerned about and I'm afraid you're going to be in the cast for three months."

"Three months?" Ruby exclaimed, horrified.

"And then you'll be having physio for another two months," Rachel said.

"How am I meant to work?" Charlie asked, disappointed.

"I'm afraid you won't be working again for at least five months. You may just about manage to work from your desk a little bit before that but I don't recommend it."

"What am I meant to do if I'm not working?" Charlie protested.

"Recovering? Taking it easy? Letting us spoil you?" Joey suggested brightly.

Charlie tried to smile. She was grateful to be alive and the idea of spending all that time with Joey and her sister was wonderful but she loved her job. She knew she'd go crazy having to keep away.

"I think all of those are pretty good suggestions," Rachel concluded. "I'm just going to organise the tests, alright?"

Charlie nodded and Rachel departed.

"Looks like you guys are going to be stuck with me lounging around the house for a while," Charlie concluded with a sigh.

"That's a good thing!" Joey pointed out.