"Morning Leah," Charlie says in greeting. "Just the usual this morning."
"Sure you wouldn't like something stronger to help deal with things?"
Charlie sighs, resting her elbows on the counter. "I take it you heard what happened yesterday."
"You know this place, news spreads like wildfire, whether it's true or not. One rumour had it that Georgie punched the new Sergeant and has been suspended and another one had her running from the station in tears because she couldn't handle the truth."
Charlie groans. "Georgie was blameless in this and she actually did well not to thump him."
"Thought as much but I knew something had happened, she and Martha were in earlier and Georgie barely said a word."
"It left her pretty upset and I don't blame her."
"So I take it then that our illustrious new Sergeant isn't enamoured with our Georgie?"
"Apparently not. I used to think Georgie was bad with her attitude at times, but she has never set out to hurt anyone and I got the feeling yesterday, that Angelo was deliberately using Georgie's problems against her."
"He's lucky Martha is such a stabilising influence on Georgie, otherwise I'd hate to think of what might have happened."
"I've been thinking the same. The mood in the station was pretty tense after it happened, so I'm not really looking forward to work today."
"I imagine it won't be easy for Georgie, either."
"I'll keep an eye on things."
With her coffee and breakfast in hand, Charlie narrowly avoids tipping it over Joey when Joey bumps into her when she steps out of the diner.
"Shit, I'm sorry," Joey says, cursing her clumsiness again. "I really need to look where I'm going."
"No harm done," Charlie tells her. "I didn't see you down at the beach earlier."
"Yeah, I didn't really feel like swimming."
"I have a bit of time before work, why don't we go for a walk?"
"Am I that obvious?"
Charlie smiles, "You nearly wore my brekkie because you weren't paying attention, so I'd say you seem rather distracted."
Joey nods. Charlie sips her coffee, her eyes darting to her silent friend at her side as they walk along the beach. "Charlie, I'm so sorry about what happened between Georgie and Angelo," Joey eventually begins. "And I'm just so angry and disappointed in him at the moment."
Feeling a little guilty at the flash of joy she felt at Joey's last words, Charlie puts her feelings aside for her friend's sake. "Have you talked it over with him?"
She nods. "He listened, for all the good it did. He and Georgie never got along and now, he's convinced himself that she doesn't belong in uniform."
"He's said as much to me. I can sort of see where he's coming from; Georgie's record and past is colourful to say the least and it's hard to ignore her limp, but there's so much more to her than that and I'm afraid your husband just hasn't given her a chance to show it."
"Unfortunately, Angelo can be kind of stubborn when it comes to changing his opinion of someone."
"He sounds a lot like Georgie in that."
Joey sighs. "Charlie, I hope that any problems between them won't come between us."
"I may not be your husband's biggest fan at the moment, but I'm still yours," Charlie assures her.
"My biggest fan, huh?" Joey says with a slight smile.
"Well, you know what I mean." Charlie reaches out, taking Joey's hand. "Whatever happens at work, stays at work and I hope you feel the same if more problems arise."
"I do." Feeling her tension ease at Charlie's reassurance, Joey hugs her. "Thank you Charlie."
Charlie closes her eyes, relishing the closeness, even though it wouldn't lead anywhere.
I really need to stop doing this, Joey thought, breathing in Charlie's scent as she held her.
Charlie shivers, Joey's warm breath on her neck driving her to distraction. She barely suppresses a groan of disappointment at the loss of contact when Joey steps back.
"I'd better not make you late for work," Joey says, her body still tingling from the contact. It was ridiculous to feel like this, she told herself, she was a married woman who loved her husband, yet she couldn't deny that being in Charlie's arms had felt entirely too comfortable.
Watching from his car, Aden grins. He had no idea what they were discussing, but he had to admit they looked hot holding onto each other like that and even from this distance, he could tell that Joey felt right at home in Charlie's arms.
Joey's breath catches when Charlie gently caresses her face. "You have a smudge on your cheek," Charlie says, reluctantly taking her hand away. "I meant what I said Joey, whatever happens at work, won't affect our friendship."
"I just hope things improve at work for you all."
Charlie nods. "Right then, I should go."
Aden continues to watch Joey, noticing that she never took her eyes off Charlie until Charlie was out of sight. "Why did you marry him Joey," he murmurs to himself. "When it seems your heart may belong to someone else." He doubted Joey would ever admit to it though. He sighs, starting his car up and driving away.
Pulling up at the station, Charlie takes a moment to gather her thoughts. She really wasn't looking forward to dealing with the likely tension at work today, yet this morning's little encounter with Joey had left her oddly buoyed, which she didn't quite get because holding Joey in her arms was both joyful and painful; it really did feel wonderful but at the same time, it was a reminder of what she could never have, yet she still welcomed every opportunity to be close like that. "I'm a glutton for punishment," she concluded. Spying her cousin's car in the parking lot, Charlie grabs her bag and rushes into the station. "Where's Georgie?" she asks Hogan.
"In with Attila."
"Shit."
"I haven't heard any yelling or breaking furniture, so I think that's a good sign."
Angelo was pissed. He had thought Joey was over it when she came back from her walk last night in a more receptive mood, yet when they had gone to bed, Joey had rolled onto her side with her back to him, clearly telling him sex was still out and her mood hadn't change this morning, not even when he had gotten up early to prepare breakfast in bed. It had only infuriated him more when she told him she admired that woman for overcoming all that she had and that she expected him to apologise to her. He'd flat out refused, which turned out to be a mistake; she'd looked even more disappointed in him, told him she'd thought he was a better man than that. With those eyes of hers looking at him like that, he'd agreed to apologise and because he had promised, he was now sitting opposite Watson in his office.
"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding yesterday," he says with as much sincerity as he could muster. "I also should have discussed my concerns with you in private."
Georgie tries not to smile. She'd still felt a little down this morning and even though she knew that Angelo's apology was as insincere as they come, the sour expression on his face as he apologised was making up for it.
"I feel we may have gotten off on the wrong foot," he continues, "And for the sake of station harmony, I'm offering this apology and hope we can put our disagreements behind us."
Georgie allows herself to finally smile and using a similar tone to Angelo's, accepts his apology.
Angelo grits his teeth, he knew the bitch was laughing inside and mocking him, but he'd made this ridiculous promise to Joey and so had to honour it, he just hoped that Joey appreciated this. "Aden's requested your services again," though he didn't know why, he adds silently. "Just remember that in that uniform, you're a police officer."
"And here I was thinking I was a nurse," Georgie mutters under her breath.
"And I expect all my officers to act accordingly." He leans back in his seat, holding her eyes. "I won't put up with any behaviour that reflects poorly on the Force, am I understood?"
"Perfectly," she replies, having heard the same speech more times than she cared to remember. While she wasn't afraid to admit that her attitude sucked at times, when out in public, she was always the best police officer she could be and she resented the implications that she wasn't, especially as she'd seen officers, both here and at her last station promoting the Force in a less than desirable way.
"That's all," he dismisses her.
Charlie breathes a sigh of relief when Georgie walks out of Angelo's office looking unscathed. "What was that about?"
"He wanted to apologise for yesterday."
"You're kidding."
"He didn't seem too happy about it, so I'm guessing the little Mrs had a little word in his ear about it."
Hopefully, once word got around about the apology, the tension in the station would ease somewhat and for that, Charlie was grateful to Joey, especially as she knew it wasn't an easy position for Joey to be in; as a cop, she'd seen it numerous times the way a wife made excuses for her husband's criminal or abusive behaviour, so she appreciated the way that Joey hadn't just blindly stood by her husband and actually expressed her disapproval of his actions.
"Is Aden about, I'm supposed to be working with him again today?"
"I'm right here," Aden says, strolling into the station. "I hope you don't mind, but I had a word with Angelo before I left last night, requesting that you be assigned to me in Charlie's place, at least for the next few days."
"That depends," Georgie says in a wary voice. "Am I going to be bombarded with talk of Belle?"
"Possibly," he replies with a grin.
"Just a warning then, too much talk and I'll tell her you're an insufferable bore with delusions of grandeur."
"Fair enough."
"So, where to today?"
"My office, we need to start crossing off names on our suspect list."
"Disaster averted?" Hogan asks Charlie once Georgie had followed Aden into his office.
"Or maybe just postponed." She was hoping though, that it wasn't just Joey's disapproval that made Angelo apologise, but that he realised how damaging it can be to the station to have a superior officer embarrass a junior like he had; if he did it again, he risked losing the respect of everyone he worked with and that could have a disastrous affect on the running of the station. "When I'm not around, keep an eye on things, not just with Georgie, but the mood of the place. I don't want this getting out of hand."
"Will do," Hogan says, again wondering why Charlie missed out on the promotion. He, like others, had assumed the job was hers and was looking forward to having her as a Sergeant; she was a good leader, firm but fair and easy to approach if they had concerns. She also never would have picked on a junior officer like Rosetta had, though he did have to admit that Charlie was sometimes harsher on Georgie than others, but he understood they had a complicated relationship and both were guilty of letting it get in the way, yet despite that, Hogan believed Charlie was the best one for the job, certainly far better than Rosetta from what he'd seen.
Lying back in the bath, sipping her wine, Charlie reflected on the day; it had proved pretty uneventful and she'd been relieved to see that Angelo's apology had indeed had a positive effect on officer morale. Georgie and Aden had worked through most of the day on their list, discussing every name and their potential as a suspect. When Charlie had seen their trimmed down list, she just couldn't imagine any of the men listed as their arsonist, sure, some were hardly angels and most had disrupted childhoods, but then, so had a lot of other people in the area and even Georgie agreed with her. Also, because of the type of work available in the area, most on the list worked menial jobs or trades and not one of them had ever been connected to fire in anyway. Aden had reminded them that profiling wasn't an exact science, but he conceded that in this case, he might need more information to develop a more accurate profile. As much as Charlie wanted this arsonist off the street before someone was hurt in a fire, she wanted it to be the right person and for the evidence to be ironclad, so it was back to the drawing board for them.
"Charlie," Ruby calls through the bathroom door. "Tea's almost ready."
"I'll be out shortly," she calls back. She was pleased that Ruby was in better spirits the last couple of days and she'd checked with Gina just to make sure that Geoff was leaving her alone. She felt a little guilty about not trusting Ruby's word, but she was her responsibility and she didn't want her to be hurting in anyway so she was happy to hear from Gina that Geoff had stopped harassing Ruby, having taken up with another girl. Holding the towel to her body as she dried off, Charlie couldn't help but wish it was Joey in her arms again. She shakes the feeling of need off, hoping that Daisy kept their date in a couple of days, because she didn't want to make a fool of herself with Joey by being unable to control herself around her.
Angelo had sensed the resentment in his officers earlier in the day and it had infuriated him; he was trying to clean up the Force by getting rid of a corrupt cop, though he supposed, they didn't know this, still, he was their commanding officer and he deserved their respect, no matter what. At least his apology had worked and he had arrived home expecting to be greeted by his wife in a better mood than the previous day, only he'd found an empty house and a note on the kitchen table informing him that Martha had asked her to cover a shift at the club. She'd never said anything about working nights and with the crap he was dealing with at work, he needed his wife's support, not her disapproval or absence. They hadn't had sex for a couple of days now and while it wasn't unusual for them, it was at a bad time for Angelo and his frustration at the way things had been going was getting the better of him, which was why he was now in his car in the parking lot of a bar fucking the brains out of some whore, hoping to take the edge off his frustration.
Bianca hooks her legs over his back, drawing him deeper. She had recognised a fellow user by the need in his eyes when he had caught her using in the alley, so it had been easy to seduce him with both sex and drugs. She thought he almost sighed in pleasure when he snorted the line of coke from her breasts. This wasn't exactly where she had pictured her life to be, she reflects as she grinds herself against him, but her life had started to spiral out of control after the whole fiasco with Liam and his wife, then she'd ruined her relationship with Charlie by being caught in bed with three others and now here she was, letting this cop use her like the prostitute he thought her to be. "Oh if only he knew," she smirks.
Angelo winces as she starts screaming her pleasure aloud. He really didn't want to be found like this, nor did he want to stop, so he put his hand over her mouth, hoping the bitch didn't bite as he continued to fuck her.
"Thanks again for helping out at such short notice," Martha says, locking the door to the club behind them.
"I'm happy to help."
"Well, now that I've seen that you can handle the busier shifts, I may ask you to step in to cover at nights when I need to, if that's ok?"
"It's fine, though when possible, I'd like a little more notice."
"What, twenty minutes wasn't enough?" she jokes.
"I barely had time to change and leave a note for Angelo, so at least a half hours notice in future," Joey says back with a grin.
"Usually it's not so last minute, but Romeo had a family emergency and had to walk out on his shift."
"I hope everything is ok with him." She'd only met Romeo a couple of times when he'd come into the club to talk to Martha about things but he'd seemed like a very nice young man.
"His sister is visiting at the moment and she's been causing a bit of trouble between him and his wife."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"Can I give you a lift home?"
"I'll take a taxi, you should get home to your family."
"It's really no problem Joey and you have a husband waiting for you."
Joey accepts Martha's offer, half hoping that Angelo wasn't waiting up for her. She knew how Angelo felt about her working and she doubted he would have been happy to find her note and she also wasn't in the mood for sex, which Angelo always seemed to be.