Despite the stress of the last day, Charlie was feeling surprisingly upbeat as she walked into the station. Well, after her 'breakfast' with Joey, she probably shouldn't be all that surprised she was feeling pretty good. Her girlfriend had a remarkable affect on her and she hoped it would continue for the rest of their lives together.

"How are Georgie and Martha doing?" Hogan asked the moment she was through the door.

"I stopped by the hospital on the way. Georgie was sleeping and there was no change with Martha." Her cousin had looked absolutely exhausted, apparently having been tossing and turning for most of the night, according to the nurse, so she'd left her to sleep before checking in with Rachel, who herself had looked worn out. Rachel had told her that no change was far better than a downward turn and she believed Martha's prognosis was only going to improve from now on.

"When you see Georgie next, tell her the guys are all behind her and Martha and if they need anything, just give us a call."

"Will do." It was times like this when Charlie appreciated the Police Force even more, because they really did pull together like a family whenever one of their own needed it. "Is there anything that needs to be looked at?"

"A few reports that need your signature, otherwise it's been pretty quiet, except for the accident investigation."

"I'll get onto those reports as soon as I have something to eat. Oh, Robertson and Graves are going out to the crash site, so if they call for extra officers or anything else, just give them whatever they want."

"Sure thing," he said, knowing there would be no shortage of officers wanting to help out. "Robertson actually called just before you got here to make sure we finished compiling that list of red cars in the area that he asked for last night."

"How far have you gotten?"

"There was a glitch in the database that slowed us down a little, but now it's nearly done."

"I'd like to see it the moment it's complete." Even though Robertson was in charge of the case, if she could help speed things along by starting to work through the list while he was busy elsewhere, then she would and she thought she could manage to be objective enough when it came to sorting through a list of names.

Hogan nodded at her request. "I hope they catch the bastard and do it quickly."

"We all do," Charlie murmured as she headed to the kitchen.

From her vantage point, she watched their every move through the binoculars. She thought it a waste of time, but orders were orders, so here she was, skulking in the bushes to spy on the cops.

At least she'd enjoyed the show in the kitchen this morning, even if they hadn't been the real reason she'd been there and, she smirked when the detective bent over, at least there was a bit to admire here as well. If she was going to be forced to follow these suits around, maybe there was another way to get closer to the action, one she'd enjoy even more.

Robertson glanced over to his colleague; she was standing there, gazing off into the distance. "What is it Graves?"

"I don't know, it just feels," she shrugged and left the rest unsaid. It was just a feeling she had and he'd think it foolish if she mentioned it. "Are we about done here?"

"Yes. The Accident Investigation Team has finished here now and there's nothing more to be done except have the car taken in for closer inspection, so let's leave that to the others and get back to the station. That list should be ready for us by now."

The woman had held her breath until the detective had turned away from her. For a moment there, she thought she'd been discovered. She grinned. A little risk always spiced things up for her and what she had planned might just be the spice to make this job more enjoyable.

Joey was still feeling good after the breakfast she and Charlie had shared. She flushed with renewed arousal as she recalled just what a wonderful breakfast it had been. It really was amazing what she felt for Charlie; never before had she felt such wanting for another person or felt it returned in the same manner.

"Morning Joey," Romeo warmly greeted her when she walked into the Club.

"Morning Romeo."

"Alf has left a list of things he'd like done and he also wants us to call him if we need something, but I think we can both handle this on our own, without having to drag him away from where he is needed most."

"I'm sure we can cope just fine." She read through Alf's list. "I can get started on the stock ordering if you want to do the cleaning."

"Or vise versa," he said with a grin. "You do handle a mop much better than I do."

"This is an equal opportunity establishment, Romeo, where we all share the work load, including the cleaning," she said, returning his grin.

"Which is why I always end up with the mop in my hands."

"Well, at least with all the practice you get, it won't be long until you're better with a mop in hand than I ever will be," she teased.

"Its fine Joey, you just take it easy while I do all the real work," he lamented with a heavy sigh.

Joey chuckled at his playful tone. "You've just made my girlfriend with the big gun, very happy."

"Always happy to stay on Charlie's good side," he agreed. "Seriously though Joey, I know you've had your own recent health issues, so I'm happy to take a larger share of the load while Alf is otherwise occupied at the hospital."

"Thanks Romeo, but I think I can do my share."

"Just not the cleaning."

"I'll leave that to the young and strong, especially since you have to tackle the wilderness otherwise known as the ladies toilets. Alf mentioned on the list that there is some rather colourful graffiti that needs to be removed A.S.A.P."

Romeo winced. "Last time I cleaned in there, I had nightmares," he muttered as he went to get the cleaning supplies.

Joey chuckled. While Romeo was young and not always the brightest, he was a good kid and a hard worker and in a way, he kind of reminded her of Aden, except for the intelligence part, of course. Her smile turned to a frown as she thought of her friend. She'd stopped by to see Aden last night while she was at the hospital with Charlie. He seemed a little down and though Joey thought there was more to it, all he would say was that he was bored and wanted out of the hospital. That was another thing, with his hands in bandages, he'd need help, yet he hadn't asked for it or said where he intended to go when he left the hospital, other than he was staying in town. She was going to see him again later, so maybe she'd try to get more out of him then.

Angelo paused at the door to the club, watching his wife working but it was the voices of the others that made him pause, or more to the point, what they were saying. Everywhere he went, it was the same, everyone talking about the accident and wondering what sort of creep would leave a mother and child behind to die. He turned and fled.

He had barely slept last night, every time he closed his eyes, he always awoke a short time later in a sweat and not even the drugs could help him relax. It just wasn't fair the way the world had turned against him. He saw how they all looked at him in the diner yesterday, how they'd all stood by and done nothing while that prick Palmer had threatened him.

He stopped running and bent over, resting his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. He had wanted to make them all pay, but he hadn't wanted to actually hurt anyone, only to make them look bad by starting the odd rumour to ruin or at least embarrass them, but it had all gone so horribly wrong.

It was just an accident, he reminded himself. It wasn't even his fault.

Charlie looked over the list Hogan had printed out, for what felt like the hundredth time. She knew just about every person on the list and none she could believe would leave Martha and Jay like that, not even the one name that stood out the most. Angelo Rosetta. She'd never really paid that much attention to what he drove, but the moment she saw his name on the list, she could picture his car clearly now. But as low an opinion she had of him, she still couldn't quite imagine him causing an accident like that and then just driving off. He was a cop for Christ's sake and it went against all their training to abandon someone in need.

There was still a chance it was some out of towner just passing through, but in her gut, she knew that someone on this list was most likely responsible and she was really hoping it wasn't going to be Angelo, because considering who he was, his involvement would make it one huge mess for everyone and she dreaded how her cousin would react if it were him.

"Charlie," Avery called out as he rushed into her office. "There's a disturbance at the hospital and it sounds like Georgie is about to go right off."

"Fuck," she muttered as she sprang to her feet. "Make sure Robertson sees that list of cars the moment he arrives," she called out to Hogan as she charged from the station. She was really hoping it wasn't going to be bad news about Martha and that she would be in time to stop her cousin from doing something she'd regret.