"Howdy stranger," joked Joey when Aden walked into the Club with Belle.
"You make it sound like you haven't seen me in ages when it was only yesterday," Aden replied.
"With everything that has been going on lately, it sometimes feels like these days go on forever," Joey said. "But now that you're out of hospital and Martha is awake, hopefully things will be going back to normal."
"And it will be even better when Angelo gets his comeuppance."
Joey sighed at his words. Angelo had once been a man she had cared about for some time and there were still moments when it was hard to accept the way things had gone and that he'd turned out to be a man she didn't really know at all.
"Hey, I'm sorry," Aden said, recognising from experience where her mind had taken her. "I was never a big fan of Angelo's, but I know he meant something to you."
"The Angelo I thought I knew meant something to me," Joey admitted. "But now he's like a stranger to me and I feel mostly contempt for him, which sometimes makes me feel guilty. He came to the Bay expecting to lead a station and build a life with me, only for me to walk out on him and his life to fall apart." She shrugged. "I realise that the only person to blame for his actions, is Angelo himself, but I can't help but wonder every now and then how very different things could have been for us if I'd never met Charlie at all."
"You'd still be in a marriage you were tricked into," he pointed out gently. "And you'd still be convincing yourself that you were happy with your life while secretly being miserable."
"Maybe not miserable," Joey replied, "But there would definitely have been a feeling that something was missing." She smiled as an image of Charlie popped into her head.
"That's her Charlie face," Aden said with a snigger to Belle.
"My what!" Joey said.
"Your Charlie face," he repeated. "It's this look you get on your face every time you think of Charlie."
"I do not get a look."
"You do to."
"Do not."
"Do to."
"Do not."
Belle watched the two old friends' childish antics with an amused grin. Normally she'd be jealous of a boyfriend being so friendly toward another woman, but from the way Aden spoke of Joey and the way they interacted with each other, the two of them shared more of a sibling relationship than anything and she kind of liked the way Aden looked out for Joey, it was the same way her sister was always looking out for her and it spoke volumes about the type of man Aden was. Not for the first time, she was glad she'd set aside her fears and taken a chance with Aden, because she was loving every minute she spent with him and was learning more about him all the time.
The light-hearted verbal ping ponging continued as Aden returned serve. "Do to."
"Do not."
"Do to."
Joey turned to Belle. "I don't have a Charlie face, do I?"
"Yeah, actually, you kind of do," Belle said, backing her boyfriend up. "Georgie's the same; you can always tell when she's thinking of Martha or Jay just by looking at her face."
Joey scrunched up her face at her reply.
"That's her annoyed thinking face," Aden told Belle.
"Oh shut up," Joey said.
"And that's just her annoyed face."
Joey glared at him and he stood there, grinning innocently at her. "It's a good thing I love you or your annoying butt would be out the door."
"Now is that any way to treat a paying customer?" he said smugly. "And let's not forget that the customer is always right."
"You must be feeling better, because you're becoming as annoying as ever," Joey said and she stepped forward and hugged him. "I'm so happy to see you up on your feet and happy," she whispered to him. She was a still a little weary of Belle's intensions with her best friend, but he deserved to be happy and she couldn't deny that, despite his injuries, he appeared to be very happy.
"I'm doing great," Aden told her as she stepped back from him. He held up his bandaged hands. "Of course, these still annoy the hell out of me and I hate having to accept so much help, but everything else is going great."
"And you're enjoying staying at Irene's place?"
He nodded. "Irene has decided I'm a stray waif that needs love and support and barely lets me do anything," he said.
"In other words, she spoils you rotten and you soak it all up."
"Hey, you can't blame me, I'm injured."
Joey shook her head in mock disapproval and turned her attention back to Belle. "I hope you don't let him use his injuries to manipulate you."
"He tries," Belle said in a way that had Aden blushing. "Not very successfully though."
"Then Aden is in good hands," Joey said. "Come, I'll show you to a table."
Charlie stared out the car window as the scenery passed by without her really seeing it. There had been no new developments on the case during the rest of her shift and she hated the waiting, though it was much worse for poor April, who still had no idea where her sister was or if she was even alive. Answers were needed but right now, she still felt as if they were drifting further and further away from that the longer this went on. The one positive though, was Robertson's confidence that he would get Angelo and while a person being that over confident normally annoyed her, in this instance, she was happy to go with it.
"We're here Charlie."
Avery's voice brought Charlie out of her thoughts.
"Thanks for the lift Patrick." Charlie hopped out of the car in front of the Club and the Constable drove off. Joey had called to say she was going to be working late, so she suggested Charlie should swing by the club and have a meal there and as tired as she was feeling, she was hungry and one of the Club's lovely meals would go down a treat.
Walking into the Club, the moment Charlie's eyes found Joey, she smiled.
"And that is Charlie's Joey face," Aden said from the table where he had been enjoying his evening with Belle.
"Hey baby," Joey greeted her girlfriend with a quick kiss. "I'll be with you in just a second," she said as she picked up the tray of drinks and took them over to one of the tables.
"I hope you're not overdoing things," Charlie said when Joey returned to her side. "It wasn't that long ago you had a health scare."
"I'm fine," Joey assured her and circled her arms around her girlfriend's waist. "I'm doing even better now that you're here." She pressed her lips to Charlie's.
"And that is Joey's sucking face face."
Joey broke the kiss to glare at Aden.
"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" said Charlie.
"Just my so-called best friend being a pain in my butt."
"And it's such a lovely butt," replied Aden and he grinned at the twin blue lasers Charlie sent his way. "Of course, that butt is all yours."
"I think you should quit while you're behind," Belle warned him and put a forkful of food into his mouth to shut him up. If Aden felt the least bit embarrassed about his girlfriend having to cut up his food and spoon-feed him, he wasn't showing it.
"Can I be fed like that?" Charlie asked Joey.
"Only if your hands are bandaged and you can't hold the knife and fork," replied Joey. "Or," she dropped her voice to a low, husky whisper, "We're in bed together and you need reenergising after having mind blowing sex."
Charlie gulped visibly. "Can we just go home, like, right now?"
"Sorry, Romeo's been delayed and Alf's busy, so I'm going to be stuck here covering for yet another hour or so." She smiled sweetly at her girlfriend. "So you're just going to have to cool your jets while you wait for me to finish. How about a very cold glass of wine before you decide on what to order for tea?"
"I already know my order and that's my girlfriend, naked and tied spreadeagled on the bed, panting and crying out for more," she said with wicked delight to Joey, who was now flushing just as Charlie had earlier. "But since that's not on the menu, I'll have to settle for wine and Special #5."
"#5 it is," Joey said in a high-pitched aroused voice.
Charlie chuckled as Joey returned to work.
Aden and Belle had invited Charlie to join them at their table, with Joey periodically stopping by during the evening, then when Romeo finally turned up, Joey joined them for a drink and they ended up having such an enjoyable time, they completely lost track of time and it was some four hours later before the two tired women crawled into their bed and into each others' arms.
"It's nice to just lie in bed and snuggle," Charlie murmured sleepily. Too often her relationships had consisted of sex and then distance within the bed, but with Joey, she could hold her all day without wanting to do anything else.
"Lovely," Joey murmured in agreement as she quickly fell into peaceful slumber.