For the next two weeks, because of work and other commitments, I might not be able to update every second day as usual but will try to update as much as possible.
Having finished as quickly as she could, Charlie made her way home just after 9 pm and she was surprised to find a candle lit dinner waiting for her, along with a rather ravishing looking girlfriend in a hot little number.
"You look gorgeous," she said, pressing her lips to Joey's. "But when you said you'd have something waiting for me, this wasn't quite what I expected. What's the occasion?"
"It's a double celebration."
"A double?"
"One for the arson case being over and two, because while I was at the hospital, I saw Rachel and despite today's dramas, she's given me a clean bill of health."
"I thought you were still a few days away."
"Hey, don't knock it."
"Believe me, I couldn't be happier, I just don't want you to overdo things."
"I got the reminder about still taking it easy from Rachel and I will but you know what, despite everything going on, I have never felt better since I've been staying with you these past couple of days and it feels as if a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders."
Charlie leans in and kisses her more firmly. "I love you," she said. She really wanted to ask Joey to move in permanently, but she didn't want to push too quickly.
"I love you too and I hope you're up for tonight."
"Is there more than dinner planned?" she asked with a hopeful glint in her eye. "Not that I object to just dinner and that nice, little," she emphasised the word little, "Dress that you're wearing." The dress was like a second skin that accentuated all of Joey's curves and didn't leave much to the imagination and Charlie's imagination was threatening to run rampant.
"After I've wined and dined my hardworking girlfriend with the food I'm about to prepare, there's a long soak together in the tub planned and then," she wiggles her eyebrows and smirks at the words left unsaid. "That is, if you last that long."
"This day may feel like it's gone on forever," Charlie murmurs, "But I feel a second wind coming on and," she grins. "I don't have to be back at the station until midday."
"In that case, why don't you slip into something more comfortable than that uniform and I'll get tea ready."
Noticing the takeaway tubs in the recycle bin on her way to the door, Charlie raises her brow at her.
"Hey, I said prepare, not cook," Joey said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Though it will require some reheating, so technically, I am cooking."
"How is it you can teach Ruby to cook that yummy fishy soupy thing, but you can't actually cook yourself?" she'd been surprised when Joey admitted that she wasn't the best cook.
"I've actually improved since I came to the Bay, but bouillabaisse was my mum's favourite dish and one Sunday every month for a long time, we made it together and I could probably make it blindfolded. Now, go and change."
"Yes ma'am. What about Ruby though?"
"Ruby decided to go out with some friends." Charlie looks at her girlfriend, who smiles back sheepishly. "Ok, so I told her I had a romantic evening planned for you and she decided she'd prefer to be elsewhere so that she wouldn't have to listen to our cries of passion."
"Oh god, she doesn't hear us, does she?" Charlie asks in horror. She'd never once considered that her sex life wasn't exactly private.
"Well, we haven't really had a chance to make all that much noise since I've been staying here, certainly nothing close to like we did in the hotel room, but I think she's just making a point about giving us some privacy." She smirks at her girlfriend, "Relax Charlie or you'll give yourself performance anxiety."
"I have never had performance anxiety," she replied with mock affront.
"Good, now shoo."
"Oh, it's a triple celebration by the way," Charlie said as she walked away. "With the arsonist dead, Robertson will be leaving in a day or two."
Joey chuckles at how much her girlfriend seemed to take enjoyment from that fact.
For Charlie, something more comfortable than her uniform consisted of a lacy bra and knickers with a matching sheer robe that barely reached past her bum.
"Are you sure Rachel gave you the all clear?" Charlie asks with a hint of mirthful challenge in her voice when she noticed the look of lust on Joey's face.
"A little late to be asking that now," murmurs Joey.
Enjoying the way Joey couldn't take her eyes off her, Charlie sauntered over to the table, putting an extra sway to her hips. Taking a seat, she waits for Joey to start serving.
"Isn't that supposed to go onto the plate?" Charlie said a few moments later.
"Huh?"
"The food," she said in an amused tone. "Generally when it's served up, it goes onto the plate."
Joey stares down at the table, her eyes widening when she sees the pile of food on the table clothe just to the side of the plate. "Oh, damn." She'd been so busy gawking at her girlfriend, she hadn't been paying attention to what she was doing with the food and had missed the plate completely.
Chuckling, Charlie helps her to scoop it onto her plate, then offers to pour the wine. "Wouldn't want to end up with it all over ourselves now, would we, because then we would have to lick it all off," she said suggestively.
Joey very nearly dropped the rest of the food at the images that went flashing through her mind at that. "That's what the bath is for," Joey fights back. "To clean it all up."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"Oh," she drops her voice to a husky murmur. "Bath time can be extremely fun as you'll find out shortly."
Choking on the sip of wine she'd just taken, Charlie waved her hand in front of her face, sure she must be beet red going by the flush she was feeling.
Smiling happily now that she'd regained some of the ground, Joey takes the seat opposite her. Holding up the glass, she waits for Charlie to do the same. "To our future."
"Our future," Charlie said, clinking her glass to Joey's. Taking another sip, she sets her glass down. "This really does look wonderful. It's not Leah's cooking though, is it?"
Joey shakes her head. "With everything that's happened lately, I didn't want to burden Leah any more than she's already been, so I ordered this from that nice new Italian place."
"Yeah, things are rather heavy for her at the moment. The Drug Squad are going to be going through every aspect of their lives to find whatever they can on Brax and rumours about what he's been up to are spreading all over town, but at least Leah's reputation should survive this, especially as she ditched Brax before the worst of it all came out."
"She's a well liked person, from what I've seen."
"She is. She's done a lot of good over the years and everyone knows that, so other than being seen as gullible for believing in Brax for so long."
"Which a lot of other people are also guilty of," points out Joey.
Charlie nods in agreement. "Leah will get through this relatively unscathed. Of course, she has lost her marriage to a man she does love, but her friends and everyone who cares about her, will be there to help her through it and to ensure that no one gives her too much grief, if they're dumb enough to try to. At times like this, you really do see how many people there are who care about you."
"That's what I love about places like this, the way people pull together and support each other."
"Not for all," Charlie murmured, her thoughts drifting toward her cousin who never seemed to have gotten that sort of support.
"Hey, there's not much we can do about any of this right now and it will still be there tomorrow, so how about for tonight, we set aside everything else and just make it about the two of us?"
"I love that idea."
"Then let's start on this beautiful meal, because the night is still young and we have all of it to enjoy."
Charlie glanced at the clock as it flicked over to 9:50. It may be getting close to her usual bedtime, but she'd never looked so forward to a late night or having the morning off.
Next chapter, the girls continue to relax.