Charlie murmurs, snuggling against the warmth as she slowly opened her eyes. She smiles when she found the warmth was Joey's body and she was half draped over her with her head on Joey's shoulder. After the turmoil of yesterday, she'd slept surprisingly well, then again, it helped to have been held in her girlfriend's arms until she'd fallen asleep.
Her mind drifted back to yesterday. In spite of Ruby's rather boisterous entry, her volume had thankfully turned down when she saw how upset her sister was, not that she was very sympathetic, lumping the blame entirely at her feet and Charlie couldn't blame her. She wanted to make things right with her cousin, she just had no idea how to go about it and she doubted she'd take Ruby's advice of falling to her knees and begging for forgiveness. Both Joey and Ruby were right though, however hard Georgie made it, she needed to persevere with her instead of just giving up because that's always been part of the problem, neither of them really trying hard to sort things out.
"Morning."
At Joey's gentle greeting, Charlie raises her head. "Morning."
Joey caresses her cheek. "You look like you got some sleep at least."
"Thanks to you."
"All I did was lie here."
"That's all I needed." Charlie moves up and brushes her lips over Joey's. "You make everything better just by being here."
"Well, not quite everything."
"Yeah, well, I'm the only one who can make this particular mess better but you being by my side makes it easier."
"Does that mean you're no longer worried about me being caught in the middle?"
"No, I'm still worried about that, but we are a couple and part of that means we go through the good and the bad together, I just don't want you to get too involved because I'd hate to see your friendships, especially with Martha, suffer because of me."
"Martha and I were ok when it was Angelo causing Georgie grief, I think we'll be fine this time and it's not like she doesn't understand how things are between you and Georgie."
"Yeah, unfortunately it's not the first time Martha's been caught in the middle, I just hope it's the last time."
"This time Charlie, you two will finally knock down that barrier."
"I love your confidence."
"That's because I know that both of you want that, despite what Georgie said yesterday and your dual stubbornness. Either of you could have given up long ago, yet you've still tried to have some sort of relationship and that's because you both love each other and you want to find a way to finally get past this."
Charlie props herself up on her elbow and smiles down at her. "I really could have done with you by my side years ago, then maybe this could have all been resolved much earlier."
"Maybe it's just taken this long because now is the right time for the two of you."
"I hope so." She leans down, pressing her lips firmly to Joey's. Lying alongside her, she deepens the kiss.
"Are you trying to delay getting out of bed," Joey says between kisses a short time later.
"No, I just love kissing you."
"As much as I'd love to spend the whole day in bed with you, you can't stay here forever Charlie."
Sighing, Charlie rests her forehead against Joey's. "I know."
"Everything is going to be fine."
"I wish I could take you into work with me."
"What, as your lucky charm?"
"Something like that and to make things easier at work." It wasn't just the distance between her and her cousin she was worried about, it was how their colleagues were going to react. Hopefully, they'd choose to stay out of it and carry on as normal because the last thing she needed was for them to take sides as that could cause problems she could do without, especially while she had visiting detectives looking over her shoulder.
"How about I stop by for lunch?" suggests Joey. "And don't say I should be taking it easy. There's plenty of food left over from what Leah brought around and I can take a taxi, so I'd hardly be overdoing things."
"Lunch sounds good," Charlie finally agrees. One thing she'd learnt about Joey was that when she had that determined look in her eyes, there really was little point in trying to argue with her.
"You're still delaying."
"No I'm not," Charlie answers quickly. "I actually have at least five minutes before I need to start getting ready."
"Five minutes, huh?" Joey links her arms around her girlfriend's neck. "Let's not waste it then," she says, pulling Charlie on top of her.
Ruby rolls her eyes when her sister practically floats into the kitchen. "I don't have to ask what you've been up to this morning."
"Actually, it's not what you think. Joey and I were just talking."
"Hell of a talk going by your current mood."
"We may have kissed a little."
"I'm glad you have Joey to help you through this Charlie."
"So am I and don't worry, I'll find a way to make things better with Georgie. I'm still not sure how, but I will."
"Good, because she's family and I hate seeing you two fall out."
"Morning Ruby."
"Morning Joey. There's some porridge in the saucepan if you want some."
Noticing the way her girlfriend was waving frantically at her from behind Ruby, Joey shakes her head. "No thanks, I like my muesli."
Ruby shrugs and has another mouthful of porridge. After getting a look at what was in Ruby's bowl, Joey was glad she was sticking to her muesli. She'd seen similar looking stuff used to mortar bricks.
"Oh shit," Charlie says suddenly, slapping her forehead. "I just remembered, your stuff from the hotel is still in the car."
"I'd forgotten about that myself." Joey frowns at the expression that came over Charlie's face. "Charlie, is there something else bothering you?"
"Yeah Charlie," Ruby pipes in.
"Ruby, aren't you going to be late for school?"
"Gee Charlie, that's original," she replies sarcastically. "If you don't want me here, just say so."
"I do need to talk to Joey about something, so could you please give us some privacy?"
"Fair enough." She holds out her hand. "Seeing as how I haven't had time for my coffee, it's your shout." Taking the 10 offered by Charlie, Ruby says goodbye to them, grabs her school bag and rushes out of the house.
When they were alone, Charlie turns to face Joey. "With everything else that happened yesterday, it kind of got pushed to the back of my mind."
"What got pushed?"
"I don't want you getting upset."
Joey crosses her arms and glares at her girlfriend. "Keeping things from me is more likely to upset me."
"That's why I was going to tell you, before the shit hit the fan with Georgie." She smiles wryly. "Actually, it was something I'd discussed with Georgie, when we were still talking with each other, that is."
Joey reaches over and squeezes her hand. "You'll be discussing things again soon, now, what is it that you need to tell me?"
Asking Joey to sit with her at the table, she tells her of her encounter with her dad.
"I guess I shouldn't be too surprised," Joey says when Charlie finishes. "He lied about dying, so what's a little bribery to him."
"I'm sorry, I wish it hadn't happened."
Joey shrugs. "It's not your fault, it's my father's." She sighs. "There are times when I think he doesn't know me at all, I mean, I would need at least five million dollars to be kept in the lifestyle I'm used to," she says with a grin.
"Well, I can barely offer a fraction of that, but how about a life filled with love and happiness?"
"Sold." Joey kisses her softly. "Definitely worth it."
Chuckling, Charlie kisses her again before they sit back.
"My father is probably not going to let this go, are you sure you want to be stuck in the middle?" Joey says with a slight smile. Between the two of them, they seemed to be doing a good job of getting caught in the middle of family dramas.
"How about we just run away," suggests Charlie.
"Tempting."
"I can handle your father Joey, I just don't want him upsetting you."
"He can try, but I'm not going to let him. I've found the person I want to spend my life with and no one is going to come between us, not even my father and if he can't accept that, then he can stay away until he does, because I'm not going to let him hurt you or me."
Charlie felt a swelling of love for her girlfriend. "You are definitely the best thing to have ever happened to me."
"So are you and while I'd love you to stay and tell me of all my wonderful qualities, this talk is going to make you late for work."
"You do have a lot of wonderful qualities, but you're right, I should be going."
"I'll see you at lunch."
"Just promise me you'll try to take it easy until then."
"I promise, as soon as I do the dishes, I'll put my feet up."
"Good luck with cleaning up Ruby's mess. I don't know how she can cook some really great meals, yet manage to ruin porridge every single time."
"It does kind of look like stuff brickies would use."
"Yeah, and it tastes like clag and sticks to the saucepan something shocking, so don't wear yourself out cleaning it." Charlie presses her lips to Joey's again. "I really do love kissing you, but now I really have to go."
"Bye and I love you."
"I love you too."