For luckdog. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Twenty Seven

"Thanks for this, both of you," Joey said gratefully to Leah and Irene.

"Hey!" Aden protested. "I was a significant part of the team, you know!" Aden protested.

"As if I'm going to praise you!" Joey smirked at him.

He mocked glared at her as the four of them carried boxes of food to the car outside. They loaded up and headed back into the Diner to check they hadn't left anything behind.

"So, we'll see you guys at the party tonight?" Joey asked.

"With bells on!" Irene confirmed.

"Oh, please let be true!" Joey grinned.

Chuckling, she headed back to the car to take the food home while Aden had another half an hour to finish his shift. He began to clear tables, working his way to the corner. He paused when a beautiful blonde smiled at him.

"Did someone mention a party?" she asked.

Willow was feeling a little tense as she, Alex, Charlie and Ruby set up the party together. Alex had reassured her of course that she had settled things with Jamie and there was nothing to be concerned about. She had even asked her to move in with her and Willow had accepted. But she did feel concerned. How could she not see Jamie as a threat? She was bold and beautiful and she had a strong history with Alex. And she was here. She was here in Summer Bay and she wanted Alex back. She doubted she was the kind of woman who would take no for an answer.

"Hey," Alex said, slipping her arms around Willow's waist from behind her.

She kissed her neck, making her tingle.

"You've been rearranging the fridge for about five minutes without actually moving anything."

"Sorry," Willow said, closing the door.

She turned around in her girlfriend's arms. Alex had her pinned against the fridge door.

"What's going on?" she asked worriedly.

She brushed her fingers through Willow's dark hair.

"I just… I feel worried," Willow admitted.

Once upon a time, she would never have been honest. She had never been in a relationship before where she had felt she could be honest. But Alex was so open and she made her feel so safe. It was funny really that now, she felt safe enough to tell her she felt unsafe.

"What are you worried about?" Alex asked.

"I'm scared I'm going to lose you."

Alex sighed and pulled her closer. She kissed her.

"Please," she said. "Please shut it out of your mind. I'm not going anywhere. You're the person I want to be with, Willow. I'm taking this job and relocating here for good because I want to be with you for good. Please hear that. Okay?"

"But she wants you back…"

"And she's not having me. I've told her that," Alex said certainly. "She's probably on her way out of town already."

A few hours later, the house was full. Almost the whole of Summer Bay had turned out to check out the new house and wish Charlie well.

"How are you doing?" Joey asked, sitting down beside her girlfriend on the decking in the back garden. "It's been hard to get a second with you."

Everyone had wanted to come and speak to Charlie and welcome her home from the hospital. Charlie smiled, leaning over to kiss her.

"I'm good," she said. "I'm glad we decided to have the party. It's nice to see people."

She had had an amusing conversation with Bianca and things were starting to feel more normal again. Watson had shown up with her wife, who to Charlie's shame, she had never actually met before. It was nice to see Irene and Dean and Ziggy. It was even nice to see Colleen! It gave her a feeling of normality to have the well intentioned woman say most inappropriate things to her that she could possibly have said.

"Well, I think people are pretty happy to see you," Joey said, holding her hand.

"Do you know what's up with Willow?" Joey asked. "She seems a little off."

"Alex's ex has shown up," Charlie revealed.

"Here?" Joey squawked a little too loudly, making Charlie laugh and a couple of people turned around.

Joey blushed and grinned. She repeated the question more quietly.

"No, not here, thank goodness," Charlie said. "Just in the Bay. She wants Alex back."

Joey looked worried.

"Don't worry," Charlie kindly, touched by her girlfriend's compassion. "Alex isn't having a bar of it. She only wants Willow. But I think Willow's still feeling a bit insecure."

"I get it," Joey said, picturing Brax.

Knowing exactly what she was thinking about, Charlie pulled Joey closer and kissed her, hard. Joey smiled and kissed her again. They rested their foreheads together.

"Do I need to need to drag you into the bedroom and prove to you how much I want you?" Charlie asked.

"I mean… you don't need to prove anything but if you want to…?"

"I'm glad you came, Colby," Willow said sincerely.

She and Dean had tentatively been spending time with their old friend and so far, it had been going well. It almost felt like old times. And Willow was proud to include Alex in her new friendships. She fitted in well and everyone liked her a great deal. It felt like everything in her life over the past few months was starting to fall into place.

She froze when she saw Jamie glide into the party. She was greeted warmly by Aden. Alex followed her stare in confusion.

"How…? I swear I didn't invite her, Willow," she said immediately.

"I wasn't going to accuse you," Willow accused her, although it came out a little more defensively than she intended.

Dean and Colby exchanged glances.

"Who's the hot chick?" Dean eventually asked.

"Nobody," Alex said.

Across the room, Aden was pleased to welcome Jamie to the party. He bumped into Charlie and Joey who were looking a little flustered as they emerged from their bedroom. He decided he didn't want to ask. He introduced them to the newcomer instead.

"Oh!" Joey said. "Jamie…?"

"I know Alex," Jamie said diplomatically, shaking her hand.

"Right," Joey said. "Well, I'm Joey and this is my partner, Charlie."

Jamie shook Charlie's hand also.

"Would you like a drink?" Aden offered.

Jamie accepted. Aden headed into the kitchen. Joey chased after him.

"What were you thinking, inviting her here?"

"What's the problem?" Aden asked. "So, she's a friend of Alex's?"

"No, Aden!" Joey hissed. "She's Alex's ex-girlfriend!"

Aden froze.

"Oh."

"And why are you inviting pretty blondes to the party anyway?" Joey wanted to know. "You already have a pretty blonde that you like. And I don't think you've even spoken to her all night."

Aden closed the fridge and leant his forehead against it.

"I can't, Jo," he said.

Joey leant against the table, waiting for him to turn around.

"What do you mean?" she asked worriedly.

"I can't do it," he said. "I can't try another relationship when I know it's just going to go wrong."

"Aden, you don't know…"

"I do!" he said desperately, whirling round to face her. "I do because I'm broken!"

She pulled him into a hug.

"We're all a little bit broken," she told him, holding him tightly. "But the hope is that we might find someone who won't mind the broken bits."

"I did find someone, Joey," he said. "And she died."

"She did," Joey agreed sadly. "And she loved you so much. She loved you enough that she wanted you to go on and meet someone else, Aden… someone else who will love you for all the other bits of broken that you've gathered over time."

She drew away from him but held onto his shoulders.

"If you want to be alone, that's fine," she said. "Plenty of people do. It's a healthy life choice. But I know you, Aden. I know you don't want to be alone."

He nodded.

"Now, you can't be with that woman. For starters, she's gay."

He laughed.

"But you like Jasmine and she likes you," she said. "Just try. Try."

He hugged her again before retrieving three drinks from the fridge – one for him, one for Jamie and one for Jasmine, who he was definitely going to talk to.

"What are you going to do?" Willow asked.

"I guess I can't just ignore her," Alex said.

She took Willow's hand, rather taking her by surprise and led her over to where Jamie was stood talking to Charlie.

"Hi," Alex said. "I didn't realise you knew anyone here."

"Just you," Jamie said cheerfully.

Aden and Joey appeared as if on cue.

"And then I got talking to this guy and bagged in invitation to the party," she said brightly, accepting the drink. "Lucky, right?"

Aden looked sheepish and ducked out of the conversation. He wanted to speak to Jasmine.

"Or underhand," Alex said bluntly.

"I just wanted to spend some time with you," Jamie said innocently. "For old time's sake."

Willow squeezed Alex's hand.

"I just don't think that's a good idea," the Doctor replied.

"Don't you think you can resist me?" Jamie smirked.

"I just don't see the point," Alex replied without hesitation. "We're in the past. We're done. I just don't know why you've come back to find me."

Charlie and Joey felt distinctly awkward being witnesses to the conversation but it also felt rude to leave. Willow was growing more and more tense.

"Because I love you," Jamie said. "And I made the biggest mistake of my life by walking out on you. I'll do whatever it takes to win you back."

Willow broke away from Alex's hand and left the room. Jamie looked pleased. Alex ran after her girlfriend.

"I think maybe it's time for you to leave," Joey suggested. "We just want a really chilled, happy party and upsetting our friends isn't really part of that."

Jamie shrugged and walked out. Joey sighed and turned back to Charlie.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

"She's pretty brazen," Charlie said. "I hope Willow's okay. Honestly, I've never seen her so happy as she's been with Alex. I don't want her to get her heart broken."

"Hey, Alex ran after Willow," Joey reminded her. "And she didn't once hesitate when it came to putting that woman in her place. Have faith."

"Willow!" Alex called, finding her in one of the bedrooms.

She touched her shoulder, turning her around.

"Willow, why did you leave?"

The Personal Trainer clenched her jaw. She didn't want to cry.

"You heard her," she said. "She's not going to stop until she's won you back."

She sank onto the bed. Alex sat beside her and took her hand.

"Don't I get a say in any of this?" she asked.

"Look, I get it, Alex," she said. "You spent ten years with her…"

"Would you stop?" the Doctor interrupted. "Please?"

Willow looked startled.

"Jamie and I spent ten years together," Alex said. "But then she left. She just left, Willow. She treated me like shit and she broke my heart. Why on earth would I ever want to go back there? Maybe if I was single and still struggling with my self-esteem, I'd be giving her a different answer. But it would be the wrong answer because we don't belong together."

Willow listened intently.

"And I'm not single," Alex said, gazing into Willow's eyes. "I am in a happy, loving relationship with the most beautiful, amazing, funny, charming woman in the whole world. I'm in love with you, Willow. I just asked you to move in with me!"

"But was that because of her…?"

"No," Alex said firmly. "I was always going to ask you if I decided to move here for good. We'd already done drawers and keys and it felt like the right next step."

She felt Willow relax in her hands.

"I love you," she repeated. "I want to live with you and spend my life with you. Is that what you want?"

Willow hugged her, assuring her that that was definitely what she wanted. They kissed passionately, falling back on the bed.

"So, who was that woman?" Jasmine asked.

She was sat in a quiet corner with Aden and she was trying not to feel shy.

"Uh… that was kind of my fault," he admitted awkwardly. "I didn't know who she was and I invited her and then everything kind of went wrong."

"But who is she?" Jasmine laughed, pointing out that he hadn't actually answered the question.

He blushed and sipped his drink.

"She's Alex's ex-girlfriend," he said.

Jasmine opened her mouth in shock.

"You're kidding?" she said. "Like, how recent? What's the story?"

"I don't know the details but I think they were together a really long time," he said. "Like, practically married. They owned a house together."

"Oh wow," Jasmine said. "No wonder poor Willow looked like she was about to cry."

"But Alex has been pretty clear that Jamie isn't a threat," Aden said. "She says she loves Willow and that Jamie is in the past. I don't know if you know but she's asked Willow to move in with her?"

"No!" Jasmine said.

For a moment, she was upset that one of her best friends would be moving out. But she persuaded herself to be happy that her friend was happy.

"They really are serious then," she said. "I've genuinely never see Willow in a proper relationship before. I've never seen her so happy."

They smiled at each other. A nervous silence fell between them for a moment.

"So um… what about you?" Jasmine asked.

"Um…"

Aden cleared his throat nervously.

"What about me?" he asked.

"What about your romantic life?"

She had wanted to ask for ages. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"Well, um… I was married…" he began. "And um… my wife died of cancer a few weeks after our wedding."

"Oh, Aden, I'm so sorry," Jasmine said immediately, touching his hand.

He felt a spark of electricity shoot through him at her touch. Then he felt guilty. He pulled his hand away. Jasmine frowned and looked down.

"It was ten years ago now," he said, shaking his head. "I guess I should be over it."

"I don't know how you really get over something like that," Jasmine said sincerely.

He nodded. He knew he would never truly let Belle go.

"What was her name?" she asked. "Your wife?"

"Belle," he said. "She used to live with Irene, actually."

Jasmine smiled.

"Irene has her picture up," she recalled. "She talks about her at home. Now I think about it, I think she has your wedding photo up as well."

Now Aden smiled. It had been an emotional day to say the least.

"What about you, anyway?" he asked. "What's your baggage?"

He grinned, making her laugh.

"How long have you got?" she asked.

"Oh no!" Joey protested.

She had walked into her bedroom to find Willow and Alex hastily putting their clothes back on. She covered her eyes quickly. They apologised profusely, both blushing.

"I am really glad you're happy but do you have to be happy on my bed?" Joey asked when she could see again.

They apologised again, clutching hands and shuffling out of the room.

"Plus, Charlie and I literally had sex right there about an hour ago!" Joey smirked.

Willow and Alex both protested loudly, running out of the room in horror. Joey laughed, eager to report back to Charlie. She found her chatting with Bianca and Liam.

"What are they, teenagers?" Charlie asked, laughing.

Joey merely raised her eyebrows.

"Fair enough," Charlie said, stealing a kiss.

She pulled Joey in to join her conversation with her friends. Sitting back, Charlie looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. She had all her friends around her including her family – Ruby and Joey. And those that felt like family – Alex, Willow and Aden. Most of Summer Bay had turned out to wish their little gang well and it had made her feel so special. Even Alf Stewart had turned up to say g'day! A few months ago, life had been hell on earth but right now, it couldn't be more perfect. Charlie felt grateful for everything she had.

Next time… While Willow prepares to move house, Alex gets into a difficult situation at work…