"Rachel, am I pregnant?" Joey asks again.

"No, you're not pregnant."

"Thank god," she blurts out.

Rachel smiles at the relief that was evident on both faces. Under the circumstances, she couldn't blame them; a baby at this time would certainly complicate matters for the new couple.

"So what's wrong with me?"

"You have a delayed concussion from your head injury and with what happened earlier with your father, it sent your blood pressure up and made your symptoms worse, which is why you fainted. I know you've had at least one stressful moment, but have you been doing any strenuous activity or been overly excited since I last saw you for your injury?"

Going by the twin blushes, Rachel guessed the answer was yes and she had a fair idea as to why. "Joey, I want you to try to avoid doing anything that can raise your blood pressure, so I suggest you take things a little easier for the next week or at least until your nausea is gone and try to keep your stress levels down."

"Fat chance of that," Joey mutters, thinking of both her father and Angelo.

"Joey, with a delayed concussion, the symptoms can linger longer than usual so if you feel like your symptoms aren't going away or are getting worse, then I want you to come to the hospital."

"Don't worry," Charlie says. "I'll make sure she's taking it easy and comes here if necessary."

Rachel gives Charlie a look. "Oh please, you are one of my worst patients when it comes to following my advice."

"That's different."

"Of course it is."

"I promise, I'll try to take things easy," Joey says, "But keeping my stress levels down may be a little hard with my father in town and with Angelo unhappy I ended things."

"Just try your best."

Joey nods. "Is everything else ok with me?"

"Aside from your delayed concussion and slightly high blood pressure, everything else seems to be fine for now."

"Provided I take it easy and try to keep the stress down, you mean."

"It's so nice to have a patient who actually seems to listen."

Charlie rolls her eyes. "I saw that," Rachel says without even looking at her.

Joey chuckles. "I always heard doctors were the worst patients."

"Oh, we are, but cops are a close second and Charlie and her cousin are the worst of the lot."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before," Charlie says with a long-suffering sigh.

"And she still doesn't listen. Well, she's your problem now Joey, maybe you'll have better luck."

Taking her girlfriend's hand, Joey raises it to her lips. "It's ok Charlie, I'll look after you."

"Hey, who is the patient here?" complains Charlie.

Rachel grins at them. She had a feeling both women were going to have their hands full with each other. "I need to be getting back to my other patients."

"So can I go?"

"If I let you go, I want your word you'll go home and do nothing for the rest of the day except put your feet up."

"That I can certainly promise, besides, I don't think I'm up for much else today."

"I'll take her home and make sure she rests."

"You should be at work Charlie, especially now that you're the Sergeant."

"You've been promoted?" Rachel says with surprise.

"I'm just acting Sergeant."

"For now, but she'll be made full Sergeant in no time."

Charlie blushes at the confidence Joey had in her. It was like new territory for her, having someone other than her sister in her life to be responsible for but also someone who was there to return it. She was with Shandi for nearly a year, yet it felt completely different with Joey because with Joey, it was forever and she never had that feeling with Shandi.

"Provided she doesn't get busted for playing hooky," Joey adds.

"Well, I'll leave you two to sort it out."

"Thanks Rachel and I'm sorry your time was wasted earlier with my father."

"I'm just glad I was there for you when you fainted. I'll see you later."

"Bye Rachel." Charlie turns to her girlfriend. "Joey."

"No Charlie," Joey interrupts her. "You earned this chance for promotion and I'm not going to let you damage your chances by missing work."

Going by Joey's determined expression, Charlie didn't think she'd have much chance at changing her mind, so she glances at her watch. "Ruby's going to be home soon, so why don't I drop you off at my place. It'll certainly make me feel better knowing you weren't alone and I think you should stay with me, at least until you're better. I can have Ruby set up the spare room for you."

"I guess there's little point arguing with you, not that I really want to. Knowing dad is staying at the hotel makes it the one place I really don't want to be." She sighs heavily. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to look or speak to him again after what he did." Charlie gathers her into her arms. "I don't know what I'd do without you," Joey murmurs, drawing comfort from her girlfriend's embrace.

"I'm not going anywhere, so you'll never have to find out."

Joey leans back in Charlie's arms. "It's certainly been a busy couple of days, hasn't it."

"You're not kidding there," Charlie replies with a big grin.

"And I bet you're as relieved as I am that I'm not pregnant."

"I certainly can't deny that." As much as she'd meant what she'd said to Joey earlier, a part of her had been worried she'd get scared of how fast things were moving and she'd bail if a baby was added into the mix. The thought of life without Joey was unimaginable, but avoiding commitment was something she was good at so she was definitely relieved she wouldn't be facing motherhood anytime soon. Things were different with Joey though, so maybe she would have been able to keep her word and be happy to have played step-mum. It was pointless wondering about it now, Joey wasn't pregnant and now the only way either of them would be, would be because it was what they wanted and not by some accident.

"How about we put talk about babies on the backburner and let it just be about us for now." Joey smiles wryly, "And Ruby, and Angelo and my father."

Chuckling, Charlie brushes her lips over Joey's. "I will just say this, that I want us to be an equal partnership, one in which we'll make decisions together and I promise you that I will never pressure you into something you don't want."

"I was right, you are amazing."

"And so are you. You've turned my life upside down in the best possible way Joey, you have me thinking about things I never really thought much of and my life is going in a direction that is both scary and exciting and despite the moments of fear at the unknown and the speed things are going, I'm just so happy right now, because we're on this journey together." She presses her lips to Joey's. "You are the best thing to have ever happened to me Joey."

"I'm supposed to be avoiding anything that raises my blood pressure, so you can't go saying things like that to me Charlie, setting my heart racing and making me want to take you right here, right now."

"It's a good thing Rachel isn't here then, because I'd cop another lecture." Kissing Joey's forehead, she puts her arm around her waist. "Let's get you home so I can at least say to Rachel that I made sure you were taking it easy."

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry about the spare room, I'd rather sleep with you," Joey says. "I mean, you know, sleep only, because of what Rachel said."

"I know what you mean Joey and I'd love to share my bed with you."