Charlie reached her cousin with only a few feet of space to spare between her and Angelo. "Georgie, let's talk," she said, her hands on her cousin's shoulders to keep her from doing anything stupid.

"Why is he standing there acting like he has every right to be here?" Watson demanded of her cousin.

"Unfortunately, he does have every right to be here."

"Yeah," Angelo said and Charlie glared at him.

He was over an hour early and while that was commendable in an officer, in this instance, it felt more like Angelo being in a rush to rub it in and she could cheerfully throttle that smirk off his face herself. Or she could just let her cousin go. She could feel the anger radiating through her cousin's body and in this state, she'd make short work of that smug prick, but as much as she wanted him gone, she needed to keep her cousin from doing anything she'd regret. "Let's go to my office," she said.

"This is bullshit Charlie," Watson muttered, but as angry as she was, she let Charlie steer her away from him and toward the office.

"I'm sorry you found out like this," Charlie said. "I tried to tell you about this before, but he beat me to it."

"There is no fucking way he should be back here," she grumbled.

"I completely agree," Charlie said. "And Joyce is looking into ways to have him moved elsewhere, but until then, we're all going to have to deal with him."

"No fucking way, Charlie."

"We don't have a choice," Charlie told her. "Don't worry though, I'm going to stick him in one of the back rooms, so just do your best to avoid him in the meantime."

"You really think that arrogant shit will stay there and not make trouble?"

"There are strict conditions on his return, including random piss tests for drugs and he knows if he puts a foot wrong, we can use it to get rid of him."

"And you actually believe that?" Watson scoffed at her. "He's already got his wish to be back here, what's a bet he knows he's a protected species and can get away with whatever he wants?"

"He may think that, but if he puts one step out of line, I'll file a report and I don't care how much paperwork I may end up doing, I'll keep doing it until someone higher up realises what a mistake it is to have him here."

"This is so not fair Charlie," she complained and paced the office like an agitated tiger. "If I hit another officer and was being investigated for a hit and run, I'd be thrown out that door so fucking fast and they'd never let me back in."

"That may be so, but he's here now and there is nothing we can do except deal with it."

"I don't want to deal with it Charlie," she snapped. "I want to smash that fucking smug smile off his face and tell him exactly what I think of him."

"Do yourself a favour and stay away from him Georgie."

"Are you protecting him?"

"Of course I'm not," she snapped back. "I'm trying to keep you out of trouble."

Watson took a deep breath and a moment to calm down. "I'm sorry, it's just that seeing him there has really thrown me and I'm just so angry right now."

"And you have every right to be upset and angry Georgie, but please, stay away from him, for your own sake, if anything," she said. Watson shrugged and remained silently defiant. "I'm serious Georgie, stay away from him."

"I can't promise anything Charlie," she replied. "Perhaps it would be better for you to tell him to stay the fuck away from me, because I honestly don't know if I could stop myself around him."

"Look, why don't you take the rest of the day off," Charlie suggested to her in a conciliatory tone. "You said yourself only a few minutes ago that you're not sure if everything is ok with you, so take some time and give yourself a chance to cool down and think things over."

"I'm not going to let him run me out of here," Watson replied angrily.

"It's not running away," Charlie said. "It's taking time off to process all of this."

"What's to process?" she snapped. "Poster Boy runs my girlfriend and son off the road, gets away with it and then gets to swan back in as if everything is ok." she said. "Did I miss anything?" she asked sarcastically.

"You're upset, I know that, but."

"You're damn right I'm fucking furious," she shouted, completely losing it again. "I've spent years dedicating my life to this job, I got shot and permanently injured for this job and this is the thanks I get?" her voice rising with each word. "To have that bastard shoved in my face just because he was born with a fucking silver spoon up his arse and no one has the balls to kick him out. What does that say Charlie? Why do we work so hard to get the bad guys off the streets, to make sure people pay for their crimes and for hurting others?" She threw her arms up in surrender. "When arseholes like him just get to wave their money or name at us so we'll turn the other cheek."

"Georgie, you need to calm down."

"Fuck that!"

Of all the times to be promoted, this really was the worst possible one and with the way things were going, this was certainly going to prove to be a true test of her command capabilities, Charlie thought and fervently hoped it didn't further harm her relationship with her cousin because she needed to put the job first. "Georgie, if you're incapable of being professional while in that uniform."

"Don't you dare pull that rank bullshit on me Charlie."

"Then don't force me to," Charlie snapped back. "I don't want Angelo here anymore than you do and I'd love nothing better than for him to be shipped off to the biggest shit hole on the planet, but we're stuck with him and I won't let him or you or anyone else for that matter, disrupt the running of this station because of their personal problems."

"Personal problems?" scoffed Watson. "He could have killed my family Charlie, oh sorry, Sgt Buckton," she added the last words sarcastically.

"And he will pay for that."

"Nah, he won't," she replied dismissively. "He'll just buy his way out of it."

"Robertson won't let that happen, neither will I."

"And how exactly do you plan to do that Charlie?" she asked. "Those Sergeant stripes might look all pretty and that on your sleeve, but in the big boys club of the Force, you're nothing but a fly to be easily brushed aside by those higher up with their gold plated fly swats."

"Once Robertson gets the proof we need against Angelo, then there will be no way he will escape justice," Charlie tried to assure her.

"I wish I could believe that," Watson said in a defeated manner. "But I stopped believing in fairy tales when I was a kid and the real world started slamming me against walls. People like Angelo win all the time and people like me?" she shrugged. "We spend our lives losing out and being trodden all over because we don't matter."

"You do matter Georgie," Charlie told her. "You matter me, to Ruby and most especially, to Martha and your son."

"And outside of my family, I'm no one." She tugged on her uniform shirt. "Not even this makes a difference." Watson looked away from her cousin. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother putting it on."

"Because you love your job and you want to make a difference."

"Not so sure that I do anymore."

"Georgie, things are hard right now and you've been under so much stress recently, you just need time to refocus, that's all."

"That's just it Charlie," she murmured so softly Charlie struggled to hear her. "It's not just hard now, it's always been that way from the moment I was born," she said. "I've always had to work so much harder at even the simplest of things, like reading and writing, yet every time someone knocked me down, I got right back up because I wanted to prove them wrong, but it's all for nothing. Don't get me wrong, I'm forever grateful that Martha saw something in me most others don't and I'll love her forever, but I am so fucking tired of being stepped on or looked at sideways just because of where I came from." She shook her head tiredly. "If it wasn't for Martha and her ties here, I'd have left long ago."

"You can't run away from this Georgie," Charlie said. "Sure, you might find some place where no one gives a fuck about the Watson name, but that chip would still be on your shoulder, no matter where you go."

"You sound just like Martha," she grumbled.

"Do you want an honest assessment on what I think part of your problem is?" Charlie said. "You're your own biggest critic Georgie," she stated without waiting for an answer. "You put yourself down and won't let yourself believe that others see so much more in you and I'm not just talking about Martha. Every officer here respects you and the struggles you've had to go through to get here and while people out there," she pointed out the window, "Might not say it or show it, they do respect you as well Georgie." She walked over to her cousin and put her hands on her shoulders. "Granted, you're not everyone's idea of what a copper should be, but that doesn't make you any less effective or lessen your contribution to what we do around here in any way. You're a damn good officer or you wouldn't have lasted this long in the Force with that attitude of yours," she said to her. "You're not that troubled little girl from Mangrove River anymore, you're Constable Georgina Watson, a fearless officer who took a couple of bullets trying to save another and is someone your little boy can look up to with great pride."

Watson sighed heavily. "I just feel like I'm being battered on all sides right now."

"Understandable and no one would think any less of you if you took more leave."

"I just don't know anymore Charlie."

"Georgie, I don't want you to take this as any type of criticism, but I can't let you go out on patrol when you're like this, not until I know your head is on right. Is it on right?'

Watson looked ready to protest, but she sighed again, then shook her head.

"You can man the reception desk until you can convince me you're ready to go back out there."

"If I'm ever ready again," she mumbled.

Charlie hated the defeatism that appeared to be taking her cousin over and for the moment, she set aside rank and chose to be her cousin as she pulled her in for a hug. "You'll get through this, just like you always do, because you're one of the strongest people I've ever met."

"I don't feel strong at all."

Charlie took a step back. "You're tired and stressed and the last thing you needed was for Angelo to stick his unwelcome mug back into things, but you have to believe everything will turn out right in the end," she said. "And for the record, Angelo hasn't gotten away with anything yet. The crash investigation is still ongoing and as much as I find Robertson an incredibly annoying pain in the arse, he is a damn fine officer and he's confident he'll get his man and I'm willing to believe him."

"But if he doesn't get him?"

"He will."

"He'd better."

God I hope he does, Charlie muttered to herself. Not only would Angelo getting away with this impact on her life with Joey, because he'd be sticking around to cause trouble for them, she was also genuinely afraid of what her cousin might end up doing. Putting her cop hat back on, she looked sternly at her cousin. "Georgie, can I trust you to stay away from Angelo and let me deal with this?" She sighed wearily when the defeatism was replaced by anger and defiance once more. "Const. Watson, can I trust you?" she asked again.