Chapter Eleven
"So, will you have a break between your current job and the next one?" Ruby asked over breakfast that morning.
Alex's two bedroom apartment had become rather cosy now that it housed herself, Charlie, Joey, Ruby and Xander (and most of the time, Willow), but so far, everyone seemed to be getting on well. However, Ruby refused to stop complaining about having to sleep on the couch when she had been 'sold' a bedroom of her own.
"I have to round my job down as Head of the ED over the next couple of days. Then I start my new job the next day but I'm only rostered on for that day before I have another couple of days off. So, hopefully I can help Tori back into her role. I hope she doesn't mind any of the changes I've made to the department or anything. I've just tried to run the place as best I can."
"I don't think anyone could ever question how well you do your job, Alex," Willow said immediately. "The amount you've done for Summer Bay… Honestly!"
She shook her head with an amused smile. Charlie smiled quietly to herself. It felt nice to see someone who appreciated Alex and was so ready to tell her when she succeeded.
"All the staff I've spoken to seem to adore you," Ruby confirmed. "It's a little annoying actually. A bit like being someone's kid sister when they went to a school before you did? Oh, are you Alex's friend? She's so amazing, isn't she?"
Charlie snorted. Joey laughed. Alex blushed. Willow looked nothing but proud.
"So, how long are you guys going to be here for?" Ruby asked her parents. "I mean, it's not that I want to get rid of you, it's just…"
"You don't want to sleep on the couch," Joey finished. "We know!"
"We are allowed a holiday, Ruby," Charlie told her.
"But I kind of wanted a holiday to get away from you…"
"That's not very nice!" Xander piped up.
Joey smirked. Charlie put her arm around him.
"No, it's not very nice, is it?" she said.
Ruby looked suitably abashed. Joey glared at Charlie for winding the situation up.
"I was only joking, Xand," Ruby assured him. "You know how much I love you."
"And Mum? And Mamma?" Xander queried.
"Of course!" Ruby promised.
Charlie sat back, smirking at her daughter over her coffee cup.
"Good job we don't need to be back for a few days then," she said.
Joey chuckled. Sometimes her partner was quite contrary. It was almost impossible to get her to take time off work. She worked so hard. Then suddenly, a few days ago, she had announced that they had to go to Summer Bay, a place they had both declared they would never return to, in order to check on Alex. Now, she didn't want to go home!
"I'm sorry I'm having to work," Alex apologised.
"Well, we didn't exactly give you much notice," Joey pointed out. "Or, you know, any notice."
"We're going on an adventure today, aren't we, Xander?" Charlie said to her son.
"We are going on a boat trip," Xander informed them. "But not Mummy's boat."
He shook his head emphatically. He had been on his mother's boats more times than he could count. But this was a new adventure for him. Today, they were taking him out to show him where they had fallen in love for the first time.
"What are you planning?" Alex asked curiously.
"Have you hired Alf Stewart's boat?" Ruby asked.
"We have," Joey confirmed.
"The Blaxland?" Willow asked. "Is that where you two…?"
She raised her eyebrows.
"Not exactly," Joey grinned. "But we had what was essentially our first date there. Kind of by accident. It was the moment we realised we were in love with each other."
"When was that?" Willow wondered.
"Oh, a long time ago now," Charlie said wistfully. "2009."
Willow smiled. If someone had asked her a few months ago, she would have said she couldn't imagine loving someone for that long but now she was with Alex, she absolutely could.
"So, we're packing up a hamper, just like we did that day and taking the Blaxland out with our boy and reliving our memories," Charlie said.
"Only, hopefully if I try to kiss her, she won't panic and run away this time," Joey smirked.
"You should have planted one on her when you were still out at sea," Ruby informed her. "Rookie mistake to try and do it once you'd docked."
The others laughed.
"Noted," Joey said. "I'll make sure I do better this time!"
"So, did you succeed in having your first kiss on the boat?" Willow asked, hoping she wasn't being too nosy.
"No," Joey told her. "We had a 'moment' on the boat. We kissed a few days later after a pretty… stressful day. And actually, it was Charlie who kissed me. But in between, she went on a date with another guy and after our first kiss, she ignored me for days."
"You're really selling me, Jo," Charlie complained.
"Hey, we made it, didn't we?" Joey grinned.
"We did," Charlie agreed, leaning over and stealing a quick kiss.
"Well, this one kissed me and then ran off too so you're in good company," Willow informed them, making them laugh.
"I just thought I'd made a huge mistake!" Alex tried to explain.
"Thanks a bunch!" Willow frowned.
Alex put her arm around her. Joey made a digging motion.
"No, I just mean that I was scared I'd overstepped and ruined our friendship," the Doctor said quickly. "Not a mistake in kissing you. I wanted to kiss you from the moment I met you."
"You must have done if you joined a gym!" Ruby, Charlie and Joey said in unison.
Alex glared at them all. Willow laughed.
"And yes," Willow added. "I get how you felt. It's not like the kiss didn't throw me through a loop. It took me a while to get my head around our feelings for each other. But this is genuinely the happiest I've ever been in my life."
With Alex, Willow and Ruby all at work, Charlie, Joey and Xander had collected the keys to the Blaxland from Alf's grandson, Ryder Jackson and a hamper from the Diner. Now, they were happily out at sea, enjoying the fresh breeze and the open sea. Xander, who had spent his whole life on boats, thanks to his mother's career, was sitting very comfortably on deck, playing with his toys. Charlie stood back, watching Joey at the wheel. It was where Joey was truly happy and truly at home. Charlie loved watching her. She looked so content, so at peace and so beautiful.
Checking that Xander was alright, she stepped up behind Joey and wrapped her arms around her waist, nuzzling into her neck. Joey smiled and leant back into her.
"Well, you didn't do that last time we were on here," she murmured.
"I was a fool back then," Charlie replied.
Joey felt Charlie hand stroking patterns on her tummy.
"I spent the whole day wanting to kiss you," Charlie said. "Every time you touched me, a tingle shot through me. Even the way you looked at me sent me crazy. When we danced together… I knew I loved you. I just wish I'd been brave enough back then to love you like you deserved."
Joey rested her head back on Charlie's shoulder. She shifted a little when her hand slipped up from her tummy, underneath her tummy and inside her bra.
"Charlie!" she giggled.
"Nobody can see us!" her partner assured her.
"I'm supposed to be concentrating!" Joey scolded her.
"I'm sure you can multitask!" Charlie teased. "I mean, I could have gone south instead of north and then you'd have really lost control!"
"Oh, you're that good, are you?" Joey joked.
"I don't know," Charlie said, still teasing her with her fingertips. "Am I?"
Joey moaned, managing somehow to confirm that she was.
"Will I be able to drive a boat one day, Mamma?" Xander asked.
"Of course!" Joey replied, putting her arm around her son. "You and me, working out on the water. We'll have such a great time!"
He beamed at her. She beamed back. Charlie loved watching them together. Sometimes she had to pinch herself, wondering how she ever got so lucky.
"Can I go play?" he asked.
They'd had their lunch and he had listened to quite enough stories of how his parents had met and fallen in love. His toys were calling. Charlie and Joey both agreed and he scuttled a short distance away to play.
"It's nice out here," Charlie said, lying back on a cushion.
Joey admired her. She was so ridiculously beautiful. Charlie caught her watching. She smiled.
"What?" she asked.
"Just looking," Joey said. "Admiring. Perving, to be perfectly honest."
Charlie laughed.
"Even after all this time?" she asked.
"Every single day."
"Well, same to you," Charlie said. "I could spend my life gazing at you."
Joey blushed.
"I've actually enjoyed this visit to the Bay," she admitted. "I wasn't expecting to. When you announced we had to come here, my heart sank. But actually, it's been nice. In a lot of ways, this place is exactly the same but in a lot of ways, it's changed."
"I've enjoyed it too," Charlie admitted. "And I didn't want to come either. I only came because I was so worried about Alex. But I was so scared of coming back and facing my past. And actually, my past wasn't anything to be scared about. I feel like my demons are genuinely behind me."
Joey smiled. She came to lie beside her partner, snuggling into her side.
"I'm glad about that, Charlie," she said sincerely.
"I was scared that if I came back here, all people would remember was that cop who dated a River Boy," Charlie admitted. "That disaster. That hypocrite. But actually, most people don't even know who I am. And the people that do… they welcomed me back with open arms. People are kind here. They don't hold grudges. And the place has evolved a lot since you and I tried to make things work. You know, Alex and Willow haven't had a single issue since getting together? People have just celebrated them. It's a special thing."
Joey smiled and agreed.
"Are you thinking you might like to move back here?" she asked curiously.
"No!" Charlie gasped.
"It's okay if you do," Joey said. "We could make it work."
"Why? Do you want to move back here?"
"Not especially," Joey said. "I mean… I love where we live. I've got the business. We have our friends. Ruby's established there. And Summer Bay only ever brought me pain. Like you, I was scared of coming back here. I didn't want to have grown in strength and then be reduced to the mess I was when I lived here."
Charlie turned her head and gazed sadly at her.
"You're amazing, Joey and you have always been amazing," Charlie said.
"Oh, I'm totally amazing now but not so much then," Joey grinned.
Charlie stole a kiss.
"Definitely now and definitely then," she corrected her. "You stole my heart and you've kept it all this time."
Joey stroked Charlie's hair. She ran her thumb along her cheek.
"You always know how to make me feel good about myself."
"I'm glad," Charlie said. "You should feel good about yourself. I know there have been a lot of people in your life who made you feel bad about yourself – me included at one time. I promised you when we got back together that I would always try my best to make you happy."
"You do," Joey said, leaning in for a kiss.
"Speaking of people who…"
"I don't want to see my brother," Joey cut in.
Charlie sighed guiltily.
"When did you start being able to read me like a book?" she asked.
"Around April 2012," Joey grinned back.
Charlie chuckled and agreed.
"I would come to support you, you know," she pressed.
"I just don't see the point," Joey said. "I have my family. I have you and Ruby and Xander. We have Alex and now we have Willow. We have our chosen family back home. I've lived more than a decade without Brett. He abandoned me at such a crucial time. He's a homophobe."
Charlie sighed.
"I guess I just wish there could be a happy ending for you guys," she said.
"I know," Joey said softly. "And part of me wants that too. But I just can't deal with getting my heart broken if I try and fail. If he turns out to be the same guy he was when I last saw him… I can't deal with that, Charlie. It's better for me if I just leave it alone. It was hard enough to lose him the first time. I can't do it twice."
Charlie hugged her close. She kissed the top of her head.
"I understand," she said.
Next time… Willow and Alex's friends meet each other and Joey makes a decision…