Thanks for the lovely reviews everyone. I really appreciate your kind words. Here is your extra weekend chapter. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Sixteen

Willow opened the door to Alex and immediately gathered her into her arms. She held her tight, aware that the Doctor was extremely upset over how things had gone with Charlie at the hospital. She tilted Alex's face upward, gazing into her eyes. Stroking her hair, she cupped her face and kissed her gently on the lips. It felt strange that it felt so natural. Home alone, she took her by the hand and to the sofa, wondering what on earth had gone so badly.

"Charlie just got some bad news," Alex said. "Obviously I can't go into detail. She was so upset and she threw us out. Normally I can reach her, Willow. I've spent days building up a rapport with her. I felt like I was doing such a good job, supporting her, trying to prepare her. But today… I completely let her down."

Alex felt utterly deflated. She wasn't someone for self-pity and she certainly wasn't one for tears. But she was upset. And she was desperate to find a way to support her patient both in the short and the long term. She was also grateful that Willow had dropped everything to see her.

"Of course you didn't, Alex," Willow said soothingly, putting her arm around her. "Everyone knows what an amazing job you've done with Charlie. Including Charlie. You saved her life. And you've hardly been out of that hospital. It's been obvious that you've been putting in extra hours, looking after her and the rest of your patients. Nobody could criticise you."

"Except I wasn't up to the task when she really needed me," Alex said unhappily.

"Alex," Willow said, holding her hand with her free one. "Anyone will tell you how stubborn Charlie Buckton is. If she shut you out today, then that's not your fault. Give her a chance to process whatever news she's had and then try again. You do have a good relationship with her. She told me herself how much she thinks of you. Try again later. If she blocks you, just keep trying. One bad moment doesn't make you a bad Doctor. Please don't beat yourself up like this. Please."

She gazed into Alex's sad face.
"You're amazing," Willow continued. "Everyone thinks you're amazing. Charlie does. Ruby does."

Alex allowed herself a small smile. Willow leaned in a little closer.

"I do," Willow added.

Alex's smile widened. Willow returned it. They kissed, wrapping their arms around each other. Alex closed her eyes, breathing in Willow's scent and losing herself in her. It had been a long time since she had had a bad day at work and had someone who cared enough to bring her out of how she felt. It had been a long time since someone had truly made her smile.

Willow felt a small moan escape her as she enjoyed Alex's kisses. She could feel her hands running up and down her back. She wrapped her own arms tighter around Alex, pulling her closer so that she was straddling her lap. She never wanted to part from her or stop kissing her. She wondered why it had taken her so long to realise that Alex was someone she could fall for. But now that she was in her arms, she never wanted to let her go.

She felt breathless as she ran her hands through Alex's hair, trailing her fingertips down her back. She paused before she reached her bottom, feeling shy. She ran her hands back up her spine and into her hair again. Alex smiled into their kiss, eventually leaving Willow's mouth. She kissed Willow's neck, making her moan quietly again. Willow tilted her head, giving Alex free reign. Alex kissed her skin, running her fingertips up and down her sides before kissing her mouth again. She didn't want to get too carried away or push too far for either of their sakes. She didn't want to rush Willow and she also didn't want to go too far ahead. If this were to turn out to be a fling, at least holding back physically might mean she wouldn't get her heart too badly broken.

Charlie was beginning to regret throwing everyone out. She felt guilty more than anything. She had been awful to her daughter and to Joey and also to Alex who had been working so hard to try and get her well. But she couldn't bring herself to call anyone to try and fix things either. She felt broken and exhausted.

"Is it safe to come in?"

She looked up to find Joey's face peeking through the doorway. She didn't know whether to laugh, shout or cry.

"Yeah," she managed.

Joey entered the room, announcing that she had brought takeaway, including dessert.

"I'm not really hungry," Charlie objected.

"Oh, it's not for you," Joey said cheekily. "You totally screwed up my dinner plans today by throwing me out so rudely. I wasn't planning to be here now. This is for me!"

She grinned at Charlie who couldn't help but laugh. Joey handed over a cardboard box of noodles.

"You still like these?" she asked.

Charlie thanked her. Joey poured out a drink for her. Then started eating her own food.

"So…" she said. "What's up?"

Charlie laughed and shook her head.

"Come on, Charlie," she said seriously. "I know you're hurting…"

"But you don't," Charlie said. "You don't know how I'm feeling at all."

Tears threatened. Joey didn't break eye contact.

"Then tell me," Joey said. "Tell me what's going on inside."

"I guess… just of all things that ever went wrong in my life, I took my health for granted," Charlie admitted. "I've spent thirty years making stupid mistakes and shitty decisions but I've always been fit and healthy and strong and now I'm just here, trapped and broken. And even though I kept trying to prepare myself, I still had that little bit of hope that I was going to get better. And now I know I won't."

"Maybe you won't get better in the way you expected but…"

"Bullshit, Joey!" Charlie snapped.

Joey sat back abruptly, not prepared for her to be so sharp.

"I'm not going to get better!" Charlie continued. "I made the stupid decision to give up my whole life, my whole career for Brax and then I got shot and nearly died. I got given a second chance by surviving. I ditched Brax and I was ready. I was ready, Joey, to start again. Be a good person again. Start afresh. But it was all a lie. There was no second chance. I can't be a cop again, even if they wanted me, which I have no evidence that they do. They've come nowhere near me except to take a statement for their damn case. They don't care about me or my well being. They certainly don't want me back on the force. And I couldn't do it anyway. Whoever heard of a cop who can't even walk?"

"It's still a second chance," Joey insisted.

"How the hell is this a second chance?"

"You're alive, aren't you?" Joey said, almost angry.

"Well, you know what? Maybe it would be better if I wasn't!"

"Well, I never had you down as so damn selfish!" Joey finally snapped.

Charlie stared at her, shocked.

"You think this is worse than your little girl spending the rest of her life feeling like she's completely alone in the world?" Joey challenged. "That girl has relied on you her whole damn life, Charlie. Even before she knew you were her mother. She doesn't need you to walk or run or dance or do anything with your legs. She needs to be alive. She needs your love and your support and your advice. That's it. She just needs you. And if you think having a disabled mother is worse than being a teenage girl and having to arrange your own mother's funeral then you're an idiot."

Charlie swallowed the lump in her throat but Joey continued.

"Can you even imagine what your death would have done to her?" she said. "Can you imagine the burden of grief she would have carried with her for her whole life? The loneliness. And she found you, Charlie. She'll be able to recover from that in time now that you've survived but if you'd died? No way. So don't sit there and tell me that you'd be better off dead. Or you can have this pity party all by yourself."

"I'm sorry," Charlie said quietly.

Joey sighed heavily. Charlie apologised again. They made eye contact. Both of them were tearful.

Willow and Alex's make out session had got a little out of hand. The more they had kissed, the more Alex's previously firm decision not to get too carried away or let things go too far physically was becoming rather difficult to stick to. Currently, she was straddling Willow and her shirt had somehow come open.

Willow's heart was pounding as she kissed Alex feverishly, letting her hands roam over her body. If someone had told her only a week ago that she would be on the sofa with her hands all over another woman, she would never have believed them. But there was just something utterly intoxicating about Alex Neilson.

"We… should… stop…" Alex said, between kisses.

"Absolutely," Willow agreed, although she had no intention of doing any such thing.

She wanted Alex right here, right now, although for politeness, she supposed they ought to go to her room.

"Really…" Alex said. "We should."

She pulled away and took a deep breath.

"We were meant to be taking things slowly," she reminded Willow.

"But you're so hot," Willow said with a grin, making Alex blush.

"You're pretty hot yourself," she said. "But we definitely shouldn't rush. We haven't even been on a date yet."

Willow placed her hands on Alex's thighs, smiling lovingly at her.

"Then let's go on a date," she said. "Tomorrow night?"

Alex agreed, happy that Willow was so keen. She leant in and kissed her again. Willow wrapped her arms around her again, pulling her in close and wondering how much more she could get away with. They were interrupted by a door opening and an urgent voice calling Willow's name.

"I just don't ever want you to say that or feel that again," Joey told her. "So many people would be lost without you, Charlie."

"What use am I now?" Charlie asked unhappily.

"You're still you," Joey pointed out. "You're still loved. I mean, even from your hospital bed, you've been busy meddling, trying to help Alex and Willow get together."

Charlie privately admitted that she was at least right about that.

"Why do you think people have been flocking to come and see you?" Joey asked.

"Not everyone has," Charlie said, thinking of Bianca.

"A lot of people have," Joey argued. "And they've been doing it because they love you."

Charlie shrugged.

"Maybe," she said.

"You know I'm right," Joey told her. "You're just being stubborn. Eat your food. It's getting cold."

Charlie obeyed. Silence fell between them.

Willow and Alex sprang apart, Alex clutching her shirt, trying to keep it together, painfully aware that she was in Willow's lap.

"Dean!" Willow squeaked.

Dean, followed by Ziggy, stood in the doorway of the house, staring at the new couple.

"What the hell is going on here?" Dean demanded, looking between the two women.

"I think that's fairly obvious," Ziggy remarked with a grin.

"Um… we were uh… well, we were… uh…" Willow managed, looking helplessly at Alex, who quickly stood up and buttoned up her shirt – badly.

"Since when do you do that with… her? With any girl?" Dean wanted to know.

"It's a new thing," Willow said, her cheeks flushed as she stood also. "Really new. We've only just got together. We're just seeing how it goes…"

"Looks like it's going pretty well!" Ziggy grinned. "Congratulations!"

She nudged Dean.

"Yeah… I guess. Congratulations."

He looked uncertain and uncomfortable. Willow thanked them awkwardly. She smiled at Alex, hoping that she had responded in the right way. She was relieved when Alex smiled back at her.

"What did you want anyway?" Willow asked.

"What?" Dean asked, having completely forgotten why he burst in on them in the first place. "Oh! Brax has been arrested. Drunk and disorderly. But uh… you're busy. We can deal with it. Don't worry. Just get back to um… whatever girls do… I mean, whatever you do were doing to each other… I mean, whatever you were doing."

He left quickly. Ziggy followed, amused.

"And what about me, Charlie?" Joey added.

Charlie looked at her, startled.

"What about the time we've been able to have together? Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Charlie reached out quickly and squeezed Joey's hand, assuring her that of course it did.

"Well, if you'd just died, we wouldn't have had that," Joey pointed out. "I would have read in the paper or Aden would have found out somehow that the love of my life had been gunned down by some rival gang member of her thug boyfriend. And that would have been that. I mean, how shitty would that have been?"

Charlie stared at her.

"I'm the love of your life?" she asked.

Willow threw herself down on the sofa and gestured for Alex to join her. Alex came to sit beside her. They kissed.

"Well, that was a little embarrassing," Willow remarked, taking hold of Alex's hand.

"Just a little!" she agreed.

"I mean, I was always planning to tell my friends but… like, verbally. Maybe over drinks or dinner. Not with you half undressed on top of me!"

Alex put her face in her hands, mortified. Willow laughed and put her arm around her, kissing the top of her head.

"Hey, he was stumbling over himself so much, I think he got a treat as much as a shock!" she said.

"You're not making it better!" Alex complained.

Willow kissed her tenderly.

"Better?" she asked.

"A little," Alex conceded.

Willow kissed her again. She checked in again.

"I mean, it's helping a little…" Alex said.

Willow fumbled with Alex's shirt buttons. Alex swatted her away.

"We were going on a date, remember?" she reminded her.

"I was making you feel better!" Willow protested.

Alex relented, kissing her tenderly, losing herself in Willow's touch.

"Of course you're the love of my life," Joey said honestly, staring at her almost incomprehensibly, surprised that she didn't already know. "You always will be."

She could see that Charlie was crying.

"I know I'm not yours anymore," she said quickly. "I know it's Brax and you've moved on. Don't worry."

"Joey…"

Joey reached out and stroked Charlie's face.

"It's fine…" she assured her. "I'm not saying it to make you feel bad or to make you say it back. I'm just trying to make you understand that you're important. You're needed."

"You are the love of my life," Charlie told her.

She held the hand that Joey's hand on her face, gazing into her eyes.

"You always have been," she said. "You always have been."

Joey scooted closer, standing up. She rested her forehead against Charlie's. They closed their eyes, both sighing heavily.

"Thank you for giving me a talking to when I need it," Charlie eventually said.

"That's what I'm here for," Joey said.

She drew away ever so slightly. They both opened their eyes.

"I'm here for whatever you need me for," Joey said.

"But you're not staying, are you?" Charlie said sadly. "You're going to go back to your life soon and forget about me again."

"I never forgot you in the first place," Joey said. "And I'm here at least for two weeks. I'm here for you, Charlie."

She reached out and wiped the tears still trickling from her ex-girlfriend's eyes. She touched her lips with her thumbs. Then she kissed her.

Next time… Willow clarifies things with Dean, Joey makes a bold gesture and Brax wants Charlie back…