Charlie turned the tap off and dried her hands. Joey was waiting outside the toilets to take her back to the station when she'd actually rather spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing with her girlfriend. "God Charlie, when did a woman become more important than the job," she murmured to her reflection in the mirror. The answer was obvious; the moment Joey had become such an important part of her life. "You are one lucky lady, Charlie."

She jumped away from the mirror when someone cleared their throat.

"Should I be worried about being alone in the hospital toilets with someone who is talking to a mirror?" asked the woman who had just entered the room. "Especially one who is armed and possibly dangerous?" she said as her eyes dropped to the service weapon at Charlie's hip.

"Nah, I'm just reflecting on how great my life is right now."

"Lucky you," she said quietly and walked over to the basin next to Charlie. Sighing heavily, she turned the water on and splashed her face.

"You ok?"

"I'm a bit tired, not to mention that I hate hospitals," the blonde woman said. "Especially the smells."

"Yeah, can't say I'm a fan of the smells either."

"Are you here on business, Officer?"

Charlie shook her head. "Just visiting a sick friend during my lunch break."

"I hope your friend is ok."

"She's doing much better now," Charlie said. "What about you?"

"My sister went into labour last night with her first child, but the little bugger is in no hurry to join us," she said to Charlie. "I just needed to get out of there for a bit and get a drink of water or something."

"You might need something stronger than water. The coffee's not too bad here."

"Actually, after the first 5 cups of what passes for coffee here, I'm not sure I have any tastes buds left, but I do know that I couldn't possibly drink another cup of hospital coffee," she said. "Can you recommend any decent coffee places close to the hospital?"

"You could try a little café around the corner," Charlie said, suddenly feeling a little uncomfortable. There was something vaguely familiar about the woman that she just couldn't quite place and if she wasn't mistaken, the woman had a look of interest in her eyes. She glanced at her watch. "Oh hell, I better go and catch up with my girlfriend before I have to get back to work," she said, making sure she emphasised the girlfriend part. "Good luck with the baby."

The blonde watched Charlie leave, shaking her head in amusement at her sudden departure.

Graves buttoned up her clean shirt. She was still pissed at Robertson for his attitude at the diner, but at least he'd taken her back to the hotel so she could change. Had she more time, she would have showered, as she still felt a little sticky from the coke even with a clean shirt on. As uncomfortable as wearing a cold drink was, there was one bright spot that came from that accident; meeting that rather stunning redhead.

A little kind of a thrill went through her as the image of Shannon popped into her head; it had been a while since anyone had had that affect on her and despite how busy she was, that little thrill made her want to find that free time so that she could give Shannon her chance to earn her first name.

"Fuck, that was so corny," she muttered to herself, unable to believe she'd said that to Shannon. At least it hadn't scared Shannon off and she did seem genuinely interested in getting to know her better.

Graves glanced toward the door; even though it was closed, she could still feel Robertson's impatience as he waited on the other side and one thing was sure, she'd keep any date she managed to arrange with Shannon from Robertson for as long as she could so that he wouldn't make a pain of himself like he had earlier.

Grabbing her jacket, she threw the door open and charged through, only to find Robertson leaning casually against the wall opposite, a look of amusement on his face as he watched a woman struggling with her key card to get into the room next door to hers.

So much for him telling her to be quick, she thought to herself. "You could be a gentleman and help her," she said quietly to him.

"You're right, where are my manners today," he said as he strolled away from her and toward the woman.

"Where they're always at," she murmured, "Absent." That wasn't entirely fair, because Robertson had impeccable manners when it suited him. Graves shook her head in bemusement as he turned the charm onto the woman and she had a private chuckle when it became obvious the woman was immune to those charms. Another redhead, she also noted and quite fiery as well as she had Robertson backing away from her with his hands up in surrender. This almost made up for Robertson being a dick earlier.

"It seems she doesn't need the help of a man," Robertson said when he rejoined Graves. "You might have better luck."

She walked over to the woman and asked to see her key card. Looking it over, she handed it back. "The strip has been damaged, so you'll need to go down to reception and see if they have another card."

"Thanks," the redhead said. "I'm sorry for being bitchy at your boyfriend there, he just got me in a bad mood."

"He's not my boyfriend," Graves hurriedly said. That was one rumour she wanted quickly quashed.

"Lucky you, because he comes across as a bit of a jerk."

"Just a bit?" Oh god, what was wrong with her today. This was so unlike her and convinced her even more that maybe she really did need a break from all of this.

"Ok, more than just a little bit," the woman whispered conspiratorially to her. "Any way, I guess I'd better get down to reception and get this card sorted out."

"I hope you enjoy your stay here," Graves told her as she walked away from her.

"I'm sure I will."

"You're certainly very popular today Doogie," Robertson said as they headed toward the elevator.

"Don't start that again," she muttered under her breath. She glanced over her shoulder and found the woman was still watching them. Caught looking, she smiled at Graves and waved.

"Couldn't we play hooky and go somewhere else instead?" suggested a hopeful Charlie when Joey pulled the car into the station car park.

"Don't you think it might look a little suss if we both failed to return from lunch?"

"We both got food poisoning?" she said. "After all, you made lunch, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch."

"Oh thanks a lot," Joey said, lightly slapping her girlfriend on the arm. "No more lunch with you then."

"Does that mean no more after-lunch nookie as well?"

"Nah, we can keep that up," Joey replied with a cheeky grin.

"God I love you."

"I love you too but we're not playing hooky."

Pouting, Charlie kissed Joey quickly before getting out of the car.

"Hang on," Joey called out. "Your shirt isn't tucked in properly."

Charlie tucked herself in and looked at Joey. "Presentable?"

Joey appraised her before answering, "Certainly an improvement over the I-just-made-out-with-my-girlfriend-in-the-backseat -of-the-car look."

"I feel like a teenager again."

"Oh, make use of a lot of car backseats as a teen, did we?"

"The odd one or two but I have to say, being in uniform made it a whole new experience this time."

"Good thing no one saw us though or you might have had some explaining to do."

"I was trying to apprehend a dangerous pick pocket?" quipped Charlie.

"Yeah, I'd go with that very believable scenario."

"Oh but my dear," Charlie said huskily. "You are very dangerous to me."

"Well, definitely to your uniform."

Chuckling, Charlie turned to walk toward the station entrance and came up short when she spotted a couple of her officers standing nearby, having a smoke. The way they suddenly found the ground around their feet extremely interesting, told her they'd overheard at least some of what she and Joey had said. Shrugging her shoulders, she proceeded inside, unconcerned at what they might think, because at the end of the day, she was with a woman she loved and who made her feel on top of the world.

"Oh crap," she muttered when she found Robertson waiting for her in her office, his expression grim.

Martha's brows went up in surprise when John Palmer walked into her hospital room. "Georgie won't like you being here."

"I know, which is why I waited until she stepped out of the room." He held the flowers in his hand out to her a little self-consciously. "I wanted to give you these."

"Thanks, they're lovely," Martha said.

"I'll have a nurse put them in a vase."

"If they have any vases left and you can then find room to put it," she said with a smile at the state of her room, which, with all the flowers she'd received, resembled more of a florists shop than a hospital room.

"There are a lot of people who care about you." He sighed and glanced nervously around, "I probably shouldn't have come today, especially since Georgie has made it so clear that she doesn't want me in her life in any way."

"Georgie and I really haven't had a chance to talk about you or why she feels the way she does and until we do, I'm a little uncomfortable talking to you about her," admitted Martha.

John nodded in understanding. "I'm not here to cause trouble or pressure you or Georgie in any way, it's just that I've been worried about how Georgie was coping with you in here and when I heard you were awake, I really just wanted to see for myself that you were doing better."

"I am and even Georgie finally managed to get some rest last night."

"I'm glad." He smiled shyly, "I should be going then." He started for the door but stopped when she called out.

"John, for what it's worth, whatever Georgie's feelings are, I still believe she needs to talk about her past, with both you and the rest of her family," she said. "And I want to support her through this, but right now, I'm just not up to being caught in the middle or to dealing with any potential fallout."

"I completely understand and I'll be sure to keep my distance for the time being."

He walked out of the door and stumbled straight into his daughter.

"Soon," she said and hung up. His impatience was annoying at times, but now that she'd made face-to-face contact, things might move a little more quickly, which should get him off her back for the time being.