The uncomfortable silence since they had gotten in the car was driving Charlie nuts and making her wish even more that she was somewhere else.
"I know your cousin is upset with my decision to put her on desk duty," Angelo breaks the silence.
"Huh?" her thoughts interrupted.
"Your cousin."
"Oh right." She tries to gather her thoughts. "You know, Georgie's limp is usually barely noticeable, it's only because she hurt herself the other day that it looks like it could cause her problems."
"Senior," he pauses. "Do you mind if we dispense with formalities and I call you Charlie?"
"Go ahead."
"Charlie, I'm new here and until I get to know everyone, I have to go with what I can see."
"And because you see a limp, you assume Georgie's not up to the job."
"I'm sure she's quite competent." Charlie winces at his dismissive tone, thankful her cousin was not around. "But physically, I don't believe she is up to the job."
"She just needs a few days to get over the bruising from her fall."
"There's still the pre-existing injury."
"That has never affected her job."
"Truthfully, it's not just her injury I'm concerned about. Sgt Harris noted in her file that he was forced to pair her up with you because no one else could work with her."
"That's not true," Charlie says, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "She and Jack were one of the best teams." Charlie takes her eyes off the road to glance at him. "I hope you're not basing your view of Georgie solely on her file."
"I'm aware that performance reviews only tell me so much about an officer, but I've seen for myself that she's a difficult person."
"You just don't know her," Charlie says, feeling the need to defend her cousin, despite agreeing with him about her being difficult.
"I've made my decision, Charlie and for the moment, I intend to stick with it." He glances over at her, "There is another reason why I wanted us to pair up."
"Oh?"
"We're going to be working closely together and you're my second in command, I felt we needed to clear the air about things."
"Like what?" Charlie asks, half fearing Joey had told him about them after all.
"I know you put your hand up for the Sergeants position here."
Breathing a sigh of relief, she assures him that she wasn't jealous, if that's what he was worried about.
Angelo studies her, not detecting any insincerity. "I wouldn't have blamed you if you felt some resentment."
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that I missed out but I don't resent you for getting it."
"I'm glad Charlie, I'd hate to have had that between us."
Sitting at the end of the pier, Joey sighs, swirling her feet absently through the water, wondering at the way things had changed in her life over the past six months. She'd known Angelo all her life and while she was happy, she had just never envisioned being married to him or to anyone really, at least not until her 30s, yet here she was, married at 23 and living in a small town, far away from the extravagant lifestyle she was used to, not that she missed that part of her old life. But she did miss her father and despite his assurances he was happy for her to move away, she hated being away from him when he was sick.
Joey looks out over the water. And then there was Charlie. She knew when she saw her that night six months ago that she should have stayed away, but then Charlie had spilled her drink all over her and one thing had led to another. "And now we're in the same small town," she mutters.
Catching sight of Joey sitting alone, Charlie takes a moment to watch her, finding her even more beautiful with the sun shining over her. Sighing, she turns away from her and jogs to catch up with Angelo who obviously hadn't noticed his wife. Walking into the diner after him, Charlie's eyes open in surprise. "Irene, I didn't know you were back."
"Just got in last night." She gives Charlie a brief hug. "How's that girlie of mine?"
"Ah," she glances sideways at Angelo who was busy reading the menu board. "Pretty much the same as usual."
Irene glances over at Angelo. "That the new boss?" she asks softly.
Charlie nods, "And he and Georgie haven't really gotten off on the best foot."
Irene smiles wryly. "I love that girl, but she does try one's patience."
Noticing Angelo's attention was back on them, Charlie introduces him to Irene.
"I know that girl of mine can be a handful, but she's a good person and a good cop," Irene tells him.
Frowning, Angelo asks her who she was talking about.
"Georgie of course."
"Georgie lived with Irene for a few years," Charlie says without explaining why. "Irene, could I get a salad sandwich and coffee to go."
"Sure love. Sergeant, what can I get you?"
"I'll have the same, no sugar in the coffee." Angelo watches Irene busy herself with their order. "So your cousin lived with her?"
"Yes," Charlie says, refusing to say more. "I'm going to wait outside." Without waiting for a reply, she strides away from him, wondering how she was going to survive the rest of the day being stuck with him. Glancing down to where she saw Joey earlier, she's disappointed to see that Joey was gone. "That's a good thing Charlie," she tells herself. "You're supposed to be forgetting her, not thinking about how gorgeous she was looking." She closes her eyes, "Stop it, she's married, I can't think about her like that." She repeats it a couple of more times, before heading back inside.
Martha winces as the cupboard door was slammed shut again.
"Georgie, come here."
"I'm getting tea ready."
"Georgie, that can wait," she says softly. "Please come over here."
Walking over, Georgie sits down next to her on the sofa. Martha moves behind her, her hands on her shoulders as she gently starts to massage her. "You need to relax."
"It's a little hard after the day I had." She sighs, trying to relax against Martha's hands. "I've had to fight hard to get where I am, then this prick comes in and tells me I can't do my job and I'm getting the impression he's just waiting for me to screw up."
"Then don't give him the satisfaction and tomorrow, you go to the doctor and get proof that you're medically fit to perform your duties." She drapes her arms over her shoulders, kissing her cheek. "And if Rosetta still has a problem after that, then he'll answer to me." Georgie smiles at that. "Georgie, Rosetta is new to the job, he's bound to make mistakes."
"May be, but it's starting to feel just like Harris all over again."
"Sgt Harris was a conservative and rigid jerk."
"You forgot to add homophobic jerk." She scoffs, "Though he seemed blind to Charlie's little lesbian flaw."
"That's because he had the hots for her and refused to believe she could be gay."
Georgie peers over her shoulder at Martha. "He's just damn lucky I wasn't around when he accused you of betraying Jack's memory in the worst possible way when we hooked up and that was nothing compared to how he used to talk to me."
"You should have made a report against him."
"My word against a well respected Sergeant's?" She shakes her head. "Even Charlie thought I was imagining most of it. Harris never gave me a chance once he had heard all the stories about me, most of them weren't even true, but he decided I was trouble." She sighs. "Sometimes I wonder why I ever became a cop."
"Because you wanted to change your life around and you love being a cop."
"It hasn't changed people's opinions of me though. I'm still a Watson, one rung below the Braxtons on the scale of bad family reputations. It doesn't help that we grew up together and that I dated Heath who's now in jail for manslaughter."
"You and Heath only dated for a couple of months when you were 16 and most people view Brax differently these days."
"Because he has charm, a successful restaurant and is married to a respectable business woman."
"You have your own charm Georgie, you're in a well-respected career and I like to think you're with a respectable business woman."
"My charm has more prickles than anything," Georgie turns, taking hold of Martha's hands. "But you are definitely a respectable business woman, not to mention patient for putting up with me."
"Well, honey, you are rather difficult at times," Martha breaks into a smile. "You're also a wonderful, kind and loving partner and mother." She leans forward, pressing her lips gently to hers. "I am extremely glad I changed my opinion of you."
"Oh and what was that?"
"That you were a trouble making brat," she says affectionately. "Until I found out differently."
"Well I'm glad that you weren't the stuck up, selfish, self-centred little princess I always thought you were."
Martha leans back, "Did you really see me like that?"
"May be a little but it certainly didn't stop me from having the biggest crush on you in school, even while I was with Heath."
"You never told me that."
"You barely noticed me at school and when I came back to Summer Bay, it was obvious about you and Jack."
"Jack and I hated each other on sight," she smiles wryly, "Well just about."
"Call it a feeling I had about you two."
"Is that why you pushed us together?"
"I thought you'd be good for Jack and despite you being a bitch to him at the start, he admired your fire and thought you were hot."
"Were you jealous of us?"
Georgie shakes her head. "Jack was my best friend and I was over my teenage crush. Well, mostly." She shrugs, "Besides, I knew I never stood a chance with you." She grins, "You were straight, after all."
"I'm not so straight now."
"Lucky me."
Martha chuckles. "You're wrong you know, I did notice you in school, it was hard not to with the amount of trouble you got into, but I never in a million years would have guessed we'd be together."
"If Jack had lived, we wouldn't be together."
"I miss Jack." She cups Georgie's face, "But I love you and I don't regret one second that we've been together Georgie."
"I love you too." They kiss briefly, before Georgie pulls back. "So how was your day?"
"Huh?"
Georgie draws her into her arms, "You've been listening to me bitch and moan, the least I can do, is ask about your day."
She settles in Georgie's arms, pleased to feel that some of the tension had left her as she tells her about her day.
Still basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking, Angelo spoons against Joey's back, thinking he was the luckiest guy in the world. He had a great promotion in a nice little town and a beautiful woman to share his life with. He smiles contentedly, "Definitely the luckiest guy in the world."
Tossing and turning in bed, Charlie stares at the ceiling. Putting the pillow over her face, she screams out her frustration. "Fuckkkkkkkkk." She throws the pillow at the wall. "Get out of my dreams." She lies back, feeling as if sleep was a long way away.