Chapter Thirty-Seven

May 2007

Joey woke up, rolled over, kissed Charlie lightly on her cheek and then crept out of bed to have a shower. Still sleepy but at least clean when she emerged again, she headed back into her room. Charlie was sitting up against the pillows blinking a lot, which suggested that she had forced herself awake. Joey frowned.

"Charlie Buckton, you don't have to be up for another two hours," she said with her hands on her hips.

"You know I like to say goodbye," Charlie replied, stretching.

Joey smiled affectionately and came to sit on the edge of the bed, kissing her girlfriend good morning. After only a month it felt like they had been together forever. She supposed in a lot of ways, they had been. As they kissed, Charlie couldn't quite resist tugging on Joey's towel.

"Charlie..." Joey warned playfully.

"I'm helping you get dressed!" Charlie insisted.

They did this every morning that Joey had to go to work. She'd get up and shower, Charlie would force herself awake so that she could say goodbye, she'd be 'helpful' by taking off Joey's towel, they'd get a little carried away, realise that Joey was going to be late, forcing Joey to get dressed and hurry out the door and then Charlie would go back to sleep with happy dreams. Grinning, Joey held her hands up and let Charlie work her magic, deciding that they would get more done if she didn't resist. Thrilled, Charlie set to work and pulled Joey backwards onto the bed. Giggling, they kissed tenderly, letting their hands wander.

Forty-five minutes later, Joey rushed out of the door, still with wet hair. She ran down the road towards the dock as fast as her legs would carry her, smiling to herself. Perhaps it wasn't the most practical routine in the world but it was one that she loved. Life with Charlie as her lover was a million times better than life with Charlie just as her friend and that had been pretty special in itself. Arriving first on the boat, she took in the fresh sea air and began work, waiting for the rest of the crew to join her.

Having surfaced herself a little while later, Charlie got ready for work. On her way to breakfast, she met Watson in the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee for both of them.

"I thought I was good but you two..." Watson commented.

Charlie stopped and eyed her curiously.

"Your squeals of delight woke me up at stupid o'clock this morning. She has to be at work at six in the morning, Charlie and you still get laid before she goes? That is some serious commitment!"

Charlie blushed and focussed on her task, cursing the walls for being so thin. She wondered if they ought to spend weekdays in her room across the hall instead. Watson grinned at her.

"What's your plan for the day?" she asked her embarrassed housemate.

"Work and then seeing my Mum," Charlie said.

It was what she did every day. Elsie was becoming increasingly poorly. Ruby was away at school and Ross was useless, not to mention unkind these days. He was nice to Elsie when he was around but when he'd found out about Charlie and Joey, father and daughter had fallen out. That was just under a month ago and they'd hardly spoken since. And he was giving her the worst assignments at work. It was making life uncomfortable to say the least but Charlie knew there was no turning back now. She had spent too long fighting her feelings for Joey and giving into them, being with her was far too wonderful to give it up now.

"How's she doing?" Watson asked.

"She sleeps most of the time now," Charlie said sadly. "The nurse put her on a drip yesterday because she can hardly eat. They've increased the morphine. But she's still smiling."

Watson smiled and shook her head, wondering how the last part could even be possible.

"She's a brave woman, Charlie."

"The bravest."

At school, Ruby was on high alert. Every day that she rang home, her mother was more poorly. She was just waiting for the phone call to say that she'd gone. Ruby had never had so much empathy for another person before but now she really understood some of what Joey had been through. Here she was now, not even fourteen yet and she was about to lose her mother. It wasn't fair. All she wanted was to go home and spend the last few days with her. She didn't want to hang around waiting for a phone call.

In the middle of the afternoon, Joey finished work and hopped off the boat. She said goodbye to her friends and walked along the wharf. Spotting Aden up ahead leaving his boat, the boat that she would hopefully own half of in a few months time, she smiled and waved. He stopped and waited for her to catch up and the two of them headed to Crumble together. Joey was starving and internally criticised herself yet again for never making enough time to have breakfast. Charlie was just too tempting in the mornings to think of logical things like food, hairdryers or matching socks.

"How was your day at sea?" Aden asked cheerfully.

"Pretty good thanks," Joey said, as they sat themselves down at a table. "And yours?"

"Yeah, it was okay. Gibsy's getting jittery about your birthday."

"Oh, I didn't know he cared!" Joey said sarcastically.

Aden grinned.

"Do you know what's going to happen when you turn twenty two?" he asked.

Joey shrugged.

"Brett and I were about to start talking again and then he freaked over Charlie and I getting together so we're back to not communicating," she explaining. "So, I really don't know what's going to happen but technically, I'll own half the business and half the house so you never know, you and I might be able to work together again."

"I seriously hope so! I miss you so much!"

Joey grinned. They both looked up when Leah approached their table, ready to take their order.

"Hey, guys! What can I get you?" she asked, cheerful as ever.

"I'd love a tuna salad please," Joey said.

"Yeah, same for me please, Leah," Aden said, marvelling at the fact that they'd spent their entire day hauling in fish and now they were eating some of the stuff one of them had probably caught.

"No problem," Leah said.

"How's everything going?" Joey asked. "I feel like I haven't spoken to you properly in forever."

"Been too busy holed up in your bedroom with Charlie, hey?" Aden cracked.

She poked him in the arm. Leah laughed.

"I'm so happy for you guys," she said. "Part of me was surprised and part of me wonders why I didn't see it coming. You two are so perfect for each other."

"Thanks," Joey said, blushing. "How are things with Vinnie?"

Leah and Vinnie had been dating since that fateful Valentine's Day which had brought together and broken apart so many different couples. The big smile that appeared on Leah's face told Joey and Aden all they needed to know.

"We're actually thinking of moving in together," she said.

"Oh, wow! That's amazing!" Joey enthused.

"Congratulations," Aden said.

"Hey, a bunch of us are going to the Juke at the weekend," Leah said. "I know you and Charlie spend every night with Elsie but if you'd be able to make it, we'd all love to see you. Everyone's going to be there."

"Thanks for inviting me!" Aden said sarcastically.

"Oh, hush up, I've invited Belle," Leah laughed.

Aden grinned. Belle rarely let him know these things in advance. She was the boss. He just showed up where she told him to be and he liked it that way.

"How about it, Joey?" Leah asked hopefully.

"I'll speak to Charlie," she said. "It depends on Elsie but it'd be nice to see you all. It feels like an age!"

Charlie was stuck at her desk doing paperwork. She was bored and restless and endless paper chasing let her brain wander to thinking about her mother. Her father had essentially grounded her, just when she thought those days were over. Ever since she and Joey had told him about their relationship, their already fragmented father-daughter-bond had completely fractured. Now they didn't talk and he was treating her abysmally at work. She looked up when a shadow fell over her desk.

"Charlie, Watson, you're up," Ross said, stern as ever.

"We are?" Charlie asked, trying not to sound elated.

"Someone's pissed off because they think they've been short changed at the Juke. Go fix it."

Sighing at the lack of a task, Charlie hauled herself to her feet and followed Watson out the door.

"Sorry he's punishing you too," she said to her friend.

Having finished their lunches, Aden headed back home to get showered before Belle got home from her job at the newspaper. Joey hurried home, showered again, actually managed to dry her hair and then headed round to see Elsie to take over from the nurse Ross had employed to take care of her when he, Charlie and Joey all happened to be on the same shift. Joey had originally run straight from work to Elsie until Charlie had realised that she wasn't making time for lunch and so had enforced a minimum of forty-five minutes rest in between her duties. Reluctantly, Joey had agreed. Work was physical and Elsie was emotionally draining. Just as it had been with her own mother, watching Charlie's Mum deteriorate day after day, waiting for the end was excruciatingly painful. Quietly, she let herself into the house and headed up the stairs. Creeping into the bedroom, she and the nurse swapped shifts. When the woman had left, Joey sat down in the chair beside Elsie whose eyes fluttered open. She reached out for Joey's hand. Joey took it immediately.

"Hey, Aunt Elsie," she said softly. "How are you feeling today?"

"As stunning as I look," Elsie said, trying to laugh.

Joey smiled a little and kissed the back of Elsie's hand.

"You look beautiful," she said.

"Always the charmer, hey Joey?"

"You know me," Joey grinned.

"Have you seen my girl today?"

"She's at work but she'll be here in a couple of hours to spend the evening with you. We'll both be here."

"I'm so happy you two got together before... before."

Joey clenched her jaw. She didn't like thinking about what was coming next for Elsie. A part of her still hoped for a miraculous recovery.

"And I'm sorry about Ross."

"He'll get over it."

"He will," Elsie said as certainly as her frail voice would allow. "I'll make sure of it."

Eventually, Charlie had managed to resolve the situation in the Jukebox by convincing Martha to close one till and check that she wasn't overdue any change. It had taken a while but finally, she had confirmed that she had short changed nobody and the woman had gone away grumpy but subdued.

"Sorry to make you do that," Charlie apologised, leaning on the counter. "I didn't see any other way to get rid of her."

The woman had been making quite a racket. Charlie had been half tempted to take her in for disturbing the peace purely for entertainment but she'd decided that that was a bad thing to do.

"No worries," Martha said. "Sorry I had to drag you both out here."

"No problem at all!" Charlie and Watson said in unison.

Martha eyed them both curiously.

"My Dad has us both on desk duty," Charlie explained.

"Why?"

"Because I'm gay."

"And gay people can't be cops because...?"

Charlie was amused at how baffled her friend was.

"He's punishing me for letting him down, bringing shame on the family and all that crap," Charlie explained.

"Oh, you mean the family that's completely supportive all except for him?" Martha asked.

"That's the one!"

Martha shook her head, exasperated.

"Well, I for one am thrilled for you and Joey. In all my life I don't think I've ever seen either of you so happy before."

"Thank you," Charlie said.

"I wanted to ask you a question actually."

Charlie raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"Okay, well, you know the wedding is next May?"

"No, really? Is it?" Charlie teased.

Martha swatted her playfully on the arm.

"Well, I was wondering if you would be one of my bridesmaids."

"Really?" Charlie said, genuinely touched.

"Yeah. Would you?"

"I would love to!"

They hugged over the counter.

"I've asked Rachel and Leah too – you know, 'the girls' as we were back when we first started high school. You don't think Joey will be offended, do you?"

"This is Joey we're talking about. She doesn't do offended."

"We were going to ask her to do a reading or something," Martha said.

"She'd be thrilled to do something like that," Charlie confirmed.

Her friend beamed at her.

"We'd better head back, I guess," Watson said with a sigh.

Charlie grimaced.

"Yeah, I guess," she said.

She never thought she'd see the day when she disliked her job.

Once Elsie was more awake, she'd perked up ad even convinced Joey to help her sit up against the pillows. Sitting at her bedside as she did every afternoon, Joey hardly noticed the time passing as they'd chatted and laughed like nothing terribly tragic was happening right in that very room.

"Joey," Elsie said, her tone suddenly serious. "You will take care of Charlie, won't you?"

"Of course I will, Elsie," Joey promised.

"I know she tries to be all brave and strong and she's been so good devoting her life to taking care of me while I'm sick but I know her. I know she's suffering and I know she's putting all her efforts into the practicalities and not dealing with the emotional. When I'm gone..."

Joey bowed her head.

"When I'm gone," Elsie said firmly. "There will a void in her life and she'll struggle to cope."

"I know."

"Please don't let her fill that void with work or arguments with her Dad. Please make her deal with her feelings and protect her while she does."

"I will, Elsie. I'm going to be there for whatever Charlie needs. And I won't let her run away from her feelings. I promise I'll take care of her. And I'll help her take care of Ruby."

"Ruby..." Elsie said softly. "I wish Ross hadn't sent her away. Maybe I'm being selfish but I wish I could say goodbye to her properly."

"I know," Joey replied in the same tone.

They held hands.

Charlie arrived at her parents' house as quickly as possible and headed straight up to her mother's room where she could hear Elsie and Joey laughing softly. Entering the room, Charlie greeted Joey with a kiss on the lips and then approached her mother's bedside to kiss her forehead. She sat on the side of the bed, careful not to nudge her mother in any way and prepared to start her evening of bedside cheer.

That evening, Ruby sat on her bed and dialled home on her mobile. It was her usual duty call that she fearfully made. She didn't want to know how her mother was. She was afraid that something terrible would happen every day. All she wanted was to come home and be with her.

"Hello?"

Charlie answered the phone.

"Hi Charlz, it's Ruby," her little sister greeted.

"Hey, Rubes," Charlie said. "How are you?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"How was school?"

"Boring. How's Mum?"

"Yeah, she's okay. She's right here. I'll pass her over."

Charlie held the phone against Elsie's ear until Elsie could hold it in place herself.

"Hey, baby girl," Elsie said.

"Hi, Mum. How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, I'm not so bad today," Elsie lied. "Joey's been taking care of me all afternoon and she and Charlie are both here now."

"That's good."

Charlie and Joey excused themselves to let Elsie and Ruby talk in private.

Downstairs, Charlie and Joey began to make dinner for themselves, Elsie and Ross, even though they would leave as he arrived back and Elsie barely ate. In the kitchen, Charlie wrapped her arms around Joey and held her tight. Joey kissed Charlie's neck and breathed in her scent. No matter what, she always smelt so good.

"Hey, um, I don't know if you'll be up for it but Leah and everyone are going for drinks at the weekend if we wanted to go. I said I'd ask you," Joey told Charlie.

"Oh, well, yeah, depending on how Mum is and if Dad's around. It might be nice to socialise a little bit," Charlie admitted.

"Charlie!" Elsie called down the stairs.

Her voice was faint but just about audible. Charlie hurried up to her.

"Ruby wants to talk to you again," her mother said.

Charlie nodded and accepted the phone. She turned back to her Mum.

"Will you be okay if I go back downstairs?"

"Of course," Elsie promised.

Charlie spoke into the receiver as she trotted down the stairs.

"What's up, Rubes?"

"I want to come home."

"Ruby..."

"Mum's dying and I don't want to be away at some dumb school when she does. I want to be allowed to say goodbye."

"Ruby, we can't just take you out of school."

"I'll go to school at home, like I did before. And I can come home each afternoon and spend time with Mum. It's not fair that I'm being shut away like this, Charlie."

"Dad wanted to protect you from all this, Ruby. Mum's sick. It's not fun here. It's hard work."

When Charlie reappeared in the kitchen looking stressed, Joey stopped chopping vegetables and eyed her worriedly.

"I know that, Charlie! I'm thirteen, not the victim of a lobotomy! I know she's sick. I know it's hell at home. Why do you think I want to get back there? I want to be part of our family again. I hate being shut away from you guys. I hate the fact that I've lost my mother before she's really gone."

Charlie failed to fight tears at her sister's sorrow. She sighed heavily, not wanting to make promises she couldn't keep.

"You need to say that to Dad," she said finally.

"He won't listen."

"He'll listen to you a hell of a lot more readily than he'll listen to me," Charlie admitted.

"Are you still not speaking?" Ruby wondered. "Just because of you and Joey?"

"Pretty much."

"Why can't he get anything right?" Ruby sighed, sounding far older than her age.

"I have no idea, sweetheart," Charlie said. "I wish there was something more I could do."

"I know. Thank you anyway, Charlie."

Joey was ready to catch Charlie as she hung up the phone and sank against her, as if her bones were made of rubber. She sobbed into her girlfriend's shoulder.

A few days later, Joey approached Elsie's room, having just finished the dishes. Elsie was sleeping and Charlie was sitting by her side, watching her. Standing behind her, Joey leant forward and wrapped her arms around Charlie's shoulders. Charlie looked up, smiling sadly. She was met with a kiss.

"Did you give her the next dose of morphine?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, she drifted right off," Charlie replied. "It's terrible but I get panicked when she goes to sleep in case... in case it's the last time."

Joey held her a little tighter.

"Come and sit," Charlie offered, gesturing to her legs.

Joey moved to sit on Charlie's lap, her arm round her neck. Charlie supported Joey's back. They clasped their free hands together.

"Thank you for everything you do, Joey," Charlie said.

It wasn't the first time she'd found herself marvelling at her partner's dedication. Even before they'd got together, Joey had been so caring towards Elsie. She devoted her life to taking care of her as much as Charlie did. She loved her as if she was her own mother. She supposed in a way, Elsie was exactly that to her.

"It's fine," Joey shrugged.

"Thank you for always being here."

"Where else would I be?" Joey asked seriously.

Smiling, Charlie tilted her head. Joey bent lower and kissed Charlie softly on the lips.

"You're my family, Charlie. Elsie's been a Mum to me. She's always been in my life. She's always been so good to me. There's no way I'd leave her now. And there's no way I'd do anything but take care of you too."

They kissed again.

"Besides, I've promised her now," Joey said, chuckling softly.

"Promised?"

"Promised that I'll always look after you," Joey told her. "I swore to your Mum and it's something I'm never taking back."

"I'm glad," Charlie said. "I want us to spend the rest of our lives taking care of each other."

They kissed softly again.

Ross stood in the doorway on his wife's bedroom. She was asleep. His lesbian daughter and her lesbian lover were sitting together on a chair kissing.

"Do you have no sense of decency?" he demanded.

Both girls jumped in fright. Joey landed in a heap on the floor.

"Making out while your mother dies right in front of you?" Ross yelled.

Charlie bent down to pull Joey to her feet. Both of them looked horrified.

"We weren't making out!" Charlie hissed angrily. "We we comforting each other because we felt sad! Now, would you please keep your voice down? If she wakes up, she'll be in pain and she won't be allowed any more morphine for four hours!"

Ross just shook his head and stormed out of the room. Glancing at each other, the girls followed him downstairs into the living room. Joey couldn't help but rub her back where she'd landed a little too hard.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? That was completely inappropriate!" Ross yelled, turning red in the face.

"If Mum had woken up and seen us kissing, she wouldn't have cared," Charlie argued. "You are the only one with a problem here."

"Well excuse me if I don't like the fact that my daughter is running around with some lesbian!"

"You're not excused!" Charlie snapped.

Joey wished the world would swallow her whole.

"Look, I'm home now so you can go," Ross told them.

"Are you going to be in tomorrow night?" Charlie asked.

"Yes. Why?"

"We're going out."

Charlie took Joey's hand and led her out the door. Watching them go, Ross sank down onto the sofa in tears, cursing himself for mishandling every situation he seemed to find himself in. All he wanted was to do right by his wife and his girls but it seemed impossible.