Walking into the bathroom, Georgie leans against the basin as Martha showers. "Martha, is there another reason why you invited Joey over?"
"Do I need a reason to invite a friend over?"
"No, but you don't usually do it at such short notice."
"I kind of get the feeling that things aren't going smoothly at home, so I thought a night with friends would cheer her up, rather than sitting in an empty house alone."
"Not going smoothly as in marriage problems?" It wouldn't surprise Georgie at all. Joey seemed too nice a woman to be with a prick like Angelo.
Martha turns the water off. "I think it's more the antagonism between her husband and best friend causing some tension and she was extremely disappointed in her husband's treatment of you but that's hardly marriage problems because if it was, then," she circles her wet arms around her girlfriend's waist, "We'd be having marriage problems every time you and mum were in the same room."
"Or we had to spend an evening with some of your old school friends."
"Exactly." Martha had actually ditched a few of her old friends because she hated the way they treated Georgie and she'd heard them whispering behind her back that she was making a mistake being with a woman. "Now, get out and let me get dressed."
"Why don't you stay like that?" Georgie suggests with a smirk.
"I'm not greeting our visitors in my birthday suit and you might want to put on a dry top."
"I still think your current attire would make this night even more enjoyable," she calls out over her shoulder.
Answering the knock at the door a few minutes later, Georgie blocks Ruby and Charlie's entry, demanding to know what was in the bag Charlie was holding.
"Dessert," answers Ruby, adding Black Forest cake when Georgie still refused to move.
"Ok, you can come in," Georgie says, stepping aside and snatching the bag from Charlie.
"That's for after tea, Georgie and it's to share," Charlie informs her.
"Then Ruby shouldn't have told me what you'd brought."
"You are so easy Georgie," teases Ruby, knowing her cousin's weakness for desserts and cakes.
"I've been saying that forever," Belle says, swanning past them and relieving her sister of the bag. "I'll put that somewhere safe."
"Oh, by the way, Belle's joining us for tea and so is Joey." With her eyes following the bag, Georgie misses the flash of joy in Charlie's eyes at the mention of Joey.
"Ooh, sucking up to the boss' wife, are we?" taunts Ruby.
Georgie catches herself before she could blurt out that Charlie would be the only one doing any sucking where Joey was involved and judging from the blush on Charlie's cheeks, she was thinking the same thing.
"Ding Dong!" Jay's shout breaks through what could become an awkward moment as he comes barrelling out of his room at Belle.
"I really don't know how so much noise can come from such a small child," Georgie murmurs.
"He does seem rather boisterous lately," notes Charlie, as she's the next one to be greeted enthusiastically by the young boy.
Watching from the open door, Joey smiles at the easy manner Charlie had with the little boy in her arms. "Knock, knock," she says to get their attention.
"Hey Joey, come into the madhouse," Georgie calls out. Stepping inside, Joey fidgets a little nervously. She hadn't expected Charlie to be here, let alone her sister and Belle. "Sorry for the extra bodies, but Martha and I seemed to have had the same idea tonight. You've met Belle, but I don't know if you know Ruby."
"We've met, well, sort of."
"Have we?" Ruby says in confusion.
"At the diner a few days ago." Ruby still looks confused. "I ran into you, quite literally."
"Oh," Ruby blushes, suddenly remembering the encounter and how rude she'd been. "Sorry about that."
"It was my fault. I have a bit of a habit of crashing into people and things when my mind is elsewhere." Her eyes drift unconsciously toward Charlie.
"Jo Jo," Jay's cheerful chirp draws Joey's attention. He really was a cute kid, she thought.
"Hello Jay."
"Want to see my room?"
"Ah," Joey hesitates.
"He'll be at you until you do," Martha tells her as she joins them.
"Then I'd love to see your room, Jay."
"I'll come too," Charlie says quickly and with Jay still in her arms, sets off with Joey to his room.
Ruby frowns at Charlie's eagerness. "She really is taking this sucking up to the boss' wife a little too seriously."
"Either that or she has a thing for her," Belle jokes.
"Right then," Martha interrupts before more could be said. "Since we're all here, perhaps we should order tea. Georgie, could you pick it up?" she asks her girlfriend who was gazing intently at their son's room.
"Sure."
"I'll go with you," Belle offers.
Charlie sits on Jay's bed while Jay, with his child vocabulary, provided a bemused Joey with a very informative commentary of his belongings. She seemed so natural with him, Charlie thought, suddenly imaging Joey with a baby in her arms, the image making her shudder; the thought of Joey pregnant to Angelo nauseated her, especially since she'd started to see a different side to him.
"And who is this one?" asks Joey, holding up a bright red stuffed dog.
"Flamin' Mongrel."
"I think Jay may have been around Grandpa Alf at the wrong time," Charlie tells her, chuckling at Joey's shocked look. "Jay, I thought your mums gave him another name."
"Rusty is boring, I like Flamin' Mongrel."
"Rusty is a good name," Joey says, patting the dog's head.
"Really?"
Charlie covers her mouth to hide her smirk at the look of adoration Jay was giving Joey.
"He looks much more like a Rusty than a Flamin' Mongrel," continues Joey. "And it's a much nicer name."
"Can I have Rusty back?"
"Of course you can." She walks over and sits on the bed next to Charlie as Jay becomes absorbed in his toys.
"You're good with him."
"I don't exactly have a lot of experience with kids."
"You're a natural then." Charlie puts her arm around Joey, concerned by Joey's sudden look of distress. "Hey, what is it?"
Joey shrugs off her concern. "Just memories I don't want to relive tonight."
"You know where I am if you ever want to talk about them."
"Thanks Charlie." She rests her head on Charlie's shoulder, relaxing against her while they watched Jay play.
"How are things at work now?" Belle asks while they wait for their order.
"Things have settled a bit but Rosetta's not going to be winning any popularity contests any time soon."
"He's not Mr Popular with me right now. He had the nerve to give me a speeding ticket earlier."
"Belle, even I've given you a speeding ticket and with the way you drive, I'm surprised you even have a licence."
"What's wrong with my driving?"
"If I'm in the car with you driving, I spend half my time with my eyes closed."
"Well you're a good one to talk, little Miss Drag Racer. I don't know how you and Heath never got busted with your drag racing antics."
"We were lucky, just like we were lucky not get ourselves killed or kill someone else and I grew out of that phase."
"I saw Heath a month ago," she says a little hesitantly, unsure how her sister would react. "My journo mentor took me to the prison to interview some inmates about a story and Heath was there. He's actually a model prisoner, if you can believe it."
"Away from the drugs, booze and Brax, Heath was a good guy. I just hope Casey learns from Heath's mistakes and doesn't idolise Brax in the same way Heath did."
"At least Casey has Leah's influence in his life."
"Yeah, that's one positive in his life." Georgie looks at her sister. "I doubt Heath was the reason why you wanted to come with me, so what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"
Belle stares at her hands for a moment. "Amanda contacted me when I was in the city."
Georgie's brows go up in surprise. Belle's mother had abandoned her when she was only 9 and hadn't made any attempt to contact her since. "What did she want?"
"To reconnect. I told her to go fuck herself but now," she shrugs. "What would you do in my place?"
"Considering my parents, I'm the wrong person to ask that question."
"You're my big sister Georgie and I need your advice."
"It's obviously bothering you, so I'd suggest that you talk to her and if you don't like what she has to say, then just walk away but at least you'll know."
Belle nods. "Did you know your father is in the same prison as Heath?" Georgie goes completely still as Belle presses on. "Have you ever thought of going to see him?"
"Why would I do that?"
"To ask him why he did the things he did."
"He beat the shit out of mum and me because he was a mean drunk."
"I just never understood why he killed her after all those years of abuse."
"He just lost it more than usual that day." Belle always suspected there was more of a reason to her death but Georgie refused to talk about it aside to say her father did it. "I'm not a story Belle."
"I know that, I just thought that maybe if you knew."
"It would change nothing. Mum is dead and her killer is in jail where he belongs and I never want to see that man again."
"I'm sorry for bringing it up."
"You can't help it." She puts her arm across her shoulders. "You've always been the annoying little sister who has to know everything."
"I suppose we should rejoin the others," Charlie suggests, even though she didn't want to move from Joey's side.
Finally realising their position could be misconstrued, Joey hastily gets to her feet, moments before Martha enters the room. "Georgie's just driven up if you want to get ready for tea." At the mention of tea, Jay rushes out the door. "He's so like his mama at times," Martha murmurs fondly, following after him.
Once they were alone, Joey lets out her breath. "I'm sorry for jumping away like that, we weren't doing anything wrong, but," she shrugs.
"I understand Joey and considering our past, it would be very easy for someone to get the wrong idea," thinking it was a good thing it wasn't Georgie, or worse, Belle who could have walked in.
Angelo groans as he climaxes, collapsing against Bianca's back. He'd had a shit day, dealing with one problem after another, then Joey had called to say she was going over to that bitch's place for tea so when he'd pulled Bianca over for speeding, he'd foregone the drugs she'd offered but taken her up on everything else.
Bianca smirks. He really was a weak fool, she thought, straightening her clothes once Angelo had stepped back. All she had done was make sure the top few buttons on her top were undone so he got a perfect view, then he had her out of the car, bent over the hood, pounding his frustrations away and now because of his weaknesses, they had him.
Joey chokes on her wine in laughter. Charlie rubs her back. "You right there?"
"I shouldn't drink when someone's telling a joke."
"Who said it was a joke?" Georgie says in a completely serious tone. "It actually happened."
Joey glances at the other faces around the table, all of them wearing similar expressions. "Nice try."
"Damn, we nearly had her," Belle says in mock disappointment.
"Just ignore Huey and Dewey," Ruby tells her. "They actually think they're funny."
"Huey and Dewey," repeats Jay through a big yawn.
"Oh god," Georgie moans. "I hope that doesn't stick."
"How come you've been spared a nickname?" Joey asks Ruby. She'd been surprised by how well she'd gotten along with Charlie's sister.
"I'm sure I'll end up with one when he works one out."
"I think our little man is ready for bed," Martha says when Jay yawns again.
"I'll put him to bed," offers Ruby.
"Thanks Rubes. We'll be in to kiss him goodnight later."
"So Joey, how are you enjoying life in the fishbowl that is Summer Bay?" Belle asks.
"It's a little weird with everyone knowing everyone and everything."
"More like what they think they know," Georgie mutters.
"Yeah, this place is big on rumours," Belle says. "Did you hear the latest one about you and the Sergeant?"
"The one where I hit him?"
"Nah, that's old, I'm talking about the one in which you and Angelo are having an affair," Belle cheerfully says.
"No fucking way I'd ever do that guy," blurts out Georgie. "No offence Joey, I'm just not into guys in anyway." Especially arseholes like your husband she adds silently.
"None taken. Where did they ever get that rumour from anyway, I mean, surely they know Georgie is a lesbian."
"Well, for some idiots, lesbians are women who just haven't found the right guy yet," Belle informs her.
"That's ridiculous," Joey says. "I'm bisexual, so I've been in love with both sexes, but all the lesbians I've met, are in love or waiting to fall in love with the right woman and I can assure you, a man doesn't feature anywhere in their plans."
"Wow, I had no idea you were bisexual." Belle leans forward in interest. "So, do you prefer the ladies or the gents?"
Will Joey answer?