Guys,

Xtr75, lol, don't worry, Ruby will feature soon. Yeah, Charlie does seem a bit of a wuss. She needs to take a leaf out of Joeys book.

AJ. :-)

Chapter 38

They walked to the staff building for the dolphin house, and Joey let them in. She introduced Charlie to the head guy there, Douglas. She shook his hand, and he guided them through the enclosure, until they reached a very large water tank, out the back, that housed the dolphins. They seemed to be getting quite excited.

Douglas chuckled. "They know it's play time soon." He said to Charlie.

As they stood and watched them mess around, out of the publics gaze, he told Charlie all about their conservation efforts with dolphins, and how they would take in injured dolphins, in the hope they can be rehabilitated and released.

"How are they injured?" Charlie asked.

"Well, they could have been caught in shark nets or fishing nets, they could have been hit by propeller blades of a boat. Maybe they got lost and got washed up on shore, or got stranded on shore." He sighed. "Anything really."

"Oh dear." Said Charlie sadly. "I guess some are beyond saving."

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh dear." Charlie said, reaching for Joeys hand, and holding it tight.

"But there are several that have to remain here, as they are not fit enough to be returned to the wild, but we try and make their home here as happy for them as we can. Obviously, it's not as good as the open ocean though."

"When you feed them, and they do some of their tricks, do you train them to do all them?" Asked Charlie.

"No we don't." Douglas said. "We let them out into the much larger pool, and they love to swim around, and splash about and jump out the water. They love playing with balls, and swimming backwards, and playing with us in the water." He smiled. "They only do what they want to do. We don't hurt them, or train them, or make them do anything they don't want to."

Charlie nodded. "OK. Good." She smiled.

Then Douglas showed Charlie the public that were starting to gather at the poolside, and he opened the underwater gates that linked the two pools. The dolphins swam through, and he walked through the gate at poolside, and ushered Charlie and Joey through too.

He told them to sit on a bench, right at the front. Charlie was very excited.

He took the microphone and introduced himself to the public, after they'd stopped clapping, and told them all about all the dolphins, their names, what types they were, where they came from, and when they would be released, if at all.

Then his assistants came out with bucket loads of fish for the dolphins, and they started splashing around, eager to be fed, and have some fun.

Douglas told the audience what the dolphins may do in their display, and then his assistants started feeding them.

He gestured Charlie to move forward. She glanced at Joey, who smiled and nodded at her. "Go on." She encouraged. "It's part of your day out."

So Charlie moved towards Douglas, who introduced her to the audience as Charlie. She gave them a quick hello over the microphone. Some people thought they recognised her from somewhere, but weren't sure.

She then helped the assistant, who knelt down by the side of the pool, and fed the dolphins one by one, before kissing some of them too.

Charlie loved it, and glanced at Joey, her big smile wide and happy.

After the dolphins had swan and splashed around for around 20 minutes, Douglas called their feeding session to an end. The final trick of the dolphins was then to swim on their backs, splashing as many of the audience as possible.

The children squealed and laughed as they got soaked, as did Charlie, who, along with Joey, got quite wet where they were sitting.

The dolphins swam bank into their private pool, and the audience gradually left the enclosure.

Douglas escorted Joey and Charlie round the back, and Charlie thanked all the assistants profusely.

Charlie and Joey then headed back to another building, where, once again, Charlie was going to help feed the mammals that lived there.

This time, she was rather shocked to see giant otters in the water.

As they were slightly dangerous, she had to feed them behind a small wall at the back of the enclosure. She still had a wonderful time, and thanked the keepers again for their time and explanations about the mammals.

They thoroughly washed their hands before Joey took Charlie for an ice cream, from one of the food kiosks dotted around the aquarium. They sat down, watching the penguins, as they tried to quickly lick the vanilla swirls of ice cream from their cones before they melted.

When they'd finished the ice creams, Joey said. "Well, I think that's enough work for you for one day."

"I think you're right." Charlie smiled. "It's more tiring than doing my job, that's for sure." She kissed Joey. "But I've loved it all." She paused. "Well, maybe not all of it. Like the fish." She smirked, making Joey smile.

Joey replied. "Well, I've loved showing you round."

"Thank you sweetie. I've really enjoyed myself."

"Shall we pop back to mine for a quick shower and change before we go out?" Joey suggested.

"Yeah. That'd be good sweetie." Charlie smiled. "As much as I enjoyed feeding the penguins, I can't help but feel like I need to wash the fishy smell off me."

Joey chuckled. "Good job you never seem to mind me smelling of fish."

"That's because you don't." Charlie took Joey in her arms, her hands on her hips, looking into her eyes she said softly. "You smell gorgeous Jo. You always did. You still do. I love the smell of you, your skin, your hair." She kissed Joey tenderly. "It excites me, and yet it calms me. It makes me feel safe and at home." She said softly. "I missed it, I missed you, so much."

Joey blushed slightly. "OK. So I smell nice." She chuckled. "And you don't have to miss me anymore do you."

"You smell lovely Jo." Charlie smiled shyly. "And I certainly hope not."

They kissed tenderly, wrapping their arms around each others backs, pulling each other close. They both sighed, as they broke from the kiss, resting their foreheads against each other.

A member of the public wolf-whistled, making them smile and chuckle. They slowly broke apart and Charlie took Joeys hand, as they walked back to her office.

They said goodbye to Bev. She stood up from her desk, walked round, and gave Charlie a big hug, much to Charlies surprise. "Lovely to meet you Charlie." Bev said, as she released her. "Look after our Joey won't you." She added quietly.

"I intend to." Charlie smiled her confirmation.

"You intend to what?" Joey asked, as she put her things in her rucksack.

"Never you mind." Charlie chuckled.

"Umm. Bye Bev. See you tomorrow." Joey smiled. "Thanks for helping me with today."

"A pleasure love." Bev smiled. "See you tomorrow. And take it easy."

"I will."

They left the office, and walked back to Charlie car.

"Bev seems really nice Jo. Did you see that hug she gave me?"

"I did." Joey smiled. "That means she likes you a lot. She doesn't give her special hugs out to just anyone you know."

"Oh right." Charlie smiled. "I feel honoured then."

"You should." Joey smiled. "Anyway. What did she say to you?"

"Huh?" Charlie replied.

"When she hugged you. What did she say to you?"

"Oh nothing." Charlie smiled, before changing the subject. "So, shower, change, off out for dinner then."

"Umm. Nice subject change." Joey eyed her suspiciously.

They got to the security gate, and they said goodnight to Jim. Charlie handed her pass back, rather reluctantly. "You can keep that if you like." He said, smiling at her.

"Can I?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Yep. It's not like we don't know who you are Senior Constable, is it." He chuckled.

"No. I guess not." Charlie smiled. She looked at her keepsake. "Thank you."

Joey thanked him to, and they went to Charlies car. "Home James." Joey chuckled.