Before anyone else had reacted, John was on his feet and standing in front of Angelo to impede his path.

"Where do you think you're going?" John demanded of him.

"To talk to my wife, now please get out of the way, Mr Palmer," Angelo said as politely as he could.

Without taking his eyes off Angelo, John asked Joey if she'd like to talk to Angelo.

"I don't even want to see him," she replied.

"Joey," Angelo said, trying to take a step toward her only to be held back by John's hand on his shoulder. "Get your hand off me before I charge you with assaulting a police officer," he angrily said.

John removed his hand but didn't budge from his position in Angelo's path. "I guess wearing that uniform in here has you believing that somehow entitles you to interrupt a family dinner for your own private reasons," he said. "But it doesn't. This is a private party and you're not invited."

Angelo made a show of looking around the room. "Seems to me there are plenty of people here who aren't part of the party, so are you asking them to leave too?" he smugly replied.

"No, just the one person no one wants here."

"Too bad," he said. "I don't give a fuck who wants me here or not, I'm staying and if anyone objects to my presence, then they can be the ones to leave."

"Do you honestly think you will ever be welcomed back into this town?"

"I'm here to be with my wife, I don't care about anyone else."

"Your wife isn't with you, nor apparently, does she wish to be."

"We're married, there's no changing that, so everyone might as well just accept that I'm going nowhere. So are you going to get out of my way or not?" Angelo said and made a show of polishing his police badge. "Or do you intend to stand there and threaten me again?"

"That wasn't a threat I made that day when you badmouthed my daughter," he said calmly. "It was a promise and it still stands, regardless of whether you're in that uniform or not."

Charlie started to get to her feet to intercede but Joey reached for her hand. "Best we stay out of this one."

"He's here for you, which makes this about you and us."

"And you don't think that is what Angelo is counting on?" Joey said. "Getting a rise out of you that he can then use against you, like he's trying to do with John?"

"I just hate feeling impotent," Charlie muttered but she sat back down.

"It's not being impotent, it's about playing smart by not letting ourselves fall beneath Angelo's level."

"Not sure anyone could get any lower than him though," Ruby said drolly. "I mean, how much lower than the sewer can you get?"

"You're both right," Charlie said. "Besides, John seems to be doing a pretty good job on his own without losing it." She glanced over to her cousin. She wondered what was going through her mind as she watched two of her least favourite people facing off against each other.

"Promise, threat, there's no difference," Angelo said with a shrug. "Either way, I'm not going to let you push me around."

John chuckled when Angelo folded his arms across his chest in defiance. "Trying to be a man takes more than looking like one," he said. "And in your case, not even that uniform helps. You're a snivelling coward Angelo and you're not welcome here."

"Well too bad it's not your place to say that."

"No, but it's mine," the just recently arrived Alf said. "This is my club and you're not welcome here," he practically snarled at him. "Or any of my establishments, not after what you did to my granddaughter and her son."

"I didn't do anything to them," replied Angelo. "Bianca Scott was the one who hurt them."

"There is not a single person in this room that believes you," Alf said to him. "Now leave right now."

"This is a public place and I'm a police officer."

"Then perhaps Constable, you should try acting like one," Robertson said as he joined in.

"That's Snr Constable," Angelo hissed at him.

"Oh, my apologies once more," Robertson replied mockingly. "Your demotion is still so new and it's going to take some time to remember what lower rank you now are."

"Ooh, good one," Ruby chuckled and did a little soft clap in appreciation. "That Robertson guy should go on the stage," she added. "His voice really carries across a room."

"Ruby," Charlie said reproachfully, though she was starting to enjoy seeing Angelo set in his place as much as her sister was. Unfortunately though, she doubted this was going to be the end of things. Angelo was making his intentions clear for all to see.

Robertson leant in toward Angelo and Angelo had to struggle not to flinch back. "Now, unless you are here on official police business, which you clearly are not," Robertson said, keeping his voice low so only Angelo could hear. "Then I suggest you leave before you sully that uniform with yet even more of your unprofessional behaviour. And need I remind you that your return to this station came with certain stipulations, particularly in regard to your behaviour."

"I don't need reminding," snapped Angelo.

"Then pick up what little dignity you have left and walk out that door without any further comment," Robertson strongly advised him.

Robertson's expression warned Angelo against arguing any further and fuming, he reluctantly took the Detective's advice and left.

"Not sure what you said to him just then, but thanks," John said.
"I was just reminding him of his duties," replied Robertson. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've left my date alone for too long."

"He's here with Leah?" Alf said to John when he realised who Robertson's dinner companion was.

"Apparently."

Also taking note of Watson at John's table, Alf shook his head. "Must be something in the water," he mumbled as he headed toward the office.

When he returned to his family's table, John was surprised by the slight nod his daughter gave him. That, more than anything, made standing up to Angelo worth it.

"So, what's for the encore?" asked Ruby and everyone looked bemused as the tension around the table left with Angelo's departure.

"I know what I'm having for an encore when we get home," Joey said teasingly to Ruby as she gave her girlfriend a sexy smile.

"You're always having that," complained Ruby and the others laughed. "I haven't had a decent night's sleep in like forever," she exaggerated. She looked to her cousin. "Georgie, can I come and live with you?"

"Sure," her cousin replied, playing along. "A live-in babysitter is just what Martha and I need."

"We have a spare room," Gina then offered.

"Great," muttered Ruby. "So I have the choice of living with a couple of randy lesbians or being a babysitter to what I suspect is another couple of randy lesbians or I commit social suicide by moving in with the school principle." She looked toward the ceiling. "Life is so unfair," she said with a dramatic sigh.

Charlie smiled in appreciation for the distraction her sister had provided and with Angelo's interruption now pushed aside, the party was back in full swing.

After thanking Roo for babysitting her son, Watson checked in on him. He was sleeping peacefully. Gently kissing his forehead, she stood back and gazed down at him. Growing up, she never really believed she'd end up having a family like this and being a parent to this darling little boy was proving to be a wonderful experience. Scary at times, but the most wonderful experience in the world, nonetheless. Which made it even harder to understand how any parent could abuse their child.

"I could never hurt you," she murmured softly to him. Unlike her own father. She may not have been his in the end, but for so long, he had believed she was his flesh and blood, yet that had never stopped his verbal barbs or his fists from striking her. In her father's mind, she was probably asking for it, yet she couldn't even imagine laying one hand on her own son in anger or imagine being anything but supportive of him as he grows up. And just because Jay wasn't her flesh and blood, that didn't stop him being her son in every way and it was her job as a parent to protect him, not abuse him or take her anger out on him.

"I wonder how different my childhood would have been if mum had never married him or at least, had had the nerve to leave him permanently, instead of going back to him," she murmured. Would John have been a part of her life if her father hadn't been?

She wished Martha was here, because tonight had left her confused and she needed to talk to someone. For so long, she'd had this resentment toward John and preconceived ideas about him, yet the way he stood in front of Angelo to keep him away from them, was great and it was certainly something she would never have seen her father do. And from the way Xavier spoke of John tonight, he was a good stepfather to him, something her father never was to her. She supposed she should stop calling him her father and start referring to him as her stepfather since that was what he was, yet for all his faults, he was the only father she knew growing up and old habits were very hard to break. Like getting over her resentment to John.

She glanced at the photo of her and Martha on Jay's bedside table. "If you were here, you'd be telling me once more to talk to John and give him a chance, wouldn't you," she whispered. "I just don't know anymore," she said. "And I really need you home with me right now."

"Thanks for walking me to the door," Graves said to Shannon as they came to a halt outside her hotel room. "Though I still think that I should have been the one to walk you back to your place."

"Why?" queried Shannon. "Because you're the cop here and you think it's your duty to walk me home?"

"Well, yeah."

Shannon smiled at her earnestness. "Except you're not on duty Graves, you're on a date, so different rules are applied," replied Shannon. "Unless you'd like to use your cuffs on me?" she added suggestively and Graves' face flamed red. Enjoying her date's reaction, Shannon pressed on. "Besides, I'm staying in a caravan," she said and smiled when her date appeared confused by that statement. "Which is not the most comfortable or romantic of places for a nightcap," she next said. She put her hand on Graves' hip and then added, "Or is our wonderful night to end right now at this door?"

With her sudden nervousness almost getting the better of her, Graves reached for the key card and after fumbling with it for a bit, she finally managed to unlock the door. Then smiling rather shyly at Shannon, she asked. "Do you want to come in for a nightcap?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

Graves shivered in anticipation as Shannon ran her hand lightly across her stomach from her hip as she walked passed her into the room. "Oh boy," she murmured.

"I'm off to bed," Ruby said as the trio returned home. "And my headphones are broken so try to keep it down."

"Good night you cheeky little sod," Charlie replied.

"She's a great girl," said Joey.

"Yeah she is."

"And did I detect a little bit of a spark between her and Xavier while they were talking with Georgie earlier?"

"Those two have known each other for ages and there's never been anything romantic between them."

"That was then, this is now."

Charlie frowned as she looked back over the evening. She'd seen Ruby and Xavier together plenty of times, yet now that she thought about it, there was something almost flirty going on between them tonight. "If he's getting ideas, he better treat her right after what that little shit Geoff did to her."

"That Geoff must have had rocks in his head to cheat on a girl like Ruby."

"He's a teenage boy so it's not a matter of rocks in his head, it's having rocks elsewhere."

"Xavier seems a nice enough boy though."

"He's had his moments of rebellion," replied Charlie. "Nothing serious, just the usual teenage stuff, but he's really settled down in the past year or so."

Joey chuckled suddenly.

"What's so funny?" asked Charlie.

"Us," she said. "Talking about a boy's suitability for Ruby when we don't even know if she's really interested."

Charlie smiled at that, then something occurred to her. "God, I wonder if mum and dad used to discuss my girlfriends like this when I was in High School?"

"I know mine did," Joey said. "Mum on suitability personality wise while dad would have run complete background checks to see if they were financially acceptable."

"Seriously?" Charlie said and Joey nodded in reply. "Jesus, then no wonder he was extra pissed at someone as lowly as me sniffing around his daughter."

"Luckily for you, I don't care about money," she said. "Besides, I think I struck it pretty rich with you." She pressed her lips gently to Charlie's. "Very rich," she murmured and they kissed again.

John accepted the glass of wine from his wife as they settled in their bed. "Do you think Georgie is thawing toward me?" he asked. "Not only did she actually join us at the table, but I thought she looked a little bit impressed with the way I handled Angelo."

"John, I don't want you to get your hopes up," she warned him. "Georgie's not one to just let go of her resentment overnight."

"Yeah, I know," he said sadly. "It's probably going to take forever to get through to her, if I ever can."

"A thaw is a good place to start from though."

"Then I wasn't imagining it?"
"That daughter of yours is rather unpredictable and at times, very hard to read, but I thought I did detect a hint of a smile toward you there at one stage." She smiled at her husband and squeezed his hand. "I just want you to be careful though and not get ahead of yourself."

"$25 for a blow job, a $100 for a fuck and $200 for bareback," the woman said as Angelo dragged her into the alleyway.

"How about I just arrest you for solicitation instead," he sneered. He was furious at how this night had gone and needed to work his frustrations out and since he didn't know when his next piss test would happen, he had to steer clear of the gear, which left only one other option. He pushed her roughly against the brick wall and hiked up her skirt.

"Typical cheap skate copper," she commented as he rammed inside her.

"Just shut the fuck up whore," he hissed. He covered her mouth with his hand as he used her for his own gratification.

Leah let herself into her house. She felt on cloud nine. Robert had understood her hesitation in dating again so soon after her husband's incarceration and as such, he had been a perfect gentleman all night, even walking her home and to her door, before kissing her goodnight. Her hand went to her cheek where he'd pressed his lips only moments earlier. It had been a long time since someone had made her feel as special as Robert had. Even before he'd gone to jail, the romance with Brax had died. Sure, they had still had enjoyable sex and had cared for each other, but the romantic evenings where she was made to feel like she was the only person in the room were long gone. Until tonight.

"Don't get too hung up on Robert," she warned herself, because she knew he was only here temporarily and so there was little point letting herself fall for him. That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy their time together while he was here and maybe get some.

She chuckled to herself. Here she was, a married woman and she was talking about getting some with a guy she barely knew. It was better than thinking of the empty bed she climbed into every night though. And if tonight showed her anything, it was that her marriage was well and truly over and it was time to move on.

"Oh man, what a day," Charlie said as she sat by Joey's side on the couch with her feet up on the coffee table, sipping their hot chocolate.

"After ruining your day at work, I'm just sorry Angelo had to put a dampener on your celebration as well."

"Despite his unwelcome appearance at the Club, I had a great time Joey, so thank you for dragging me out to celebrate," she said. "But all I want to do now is finish my drink, then go to bed and snuggle with my gorgeous girlfriend as we fall asleep."

"Well if you're snuggling with your gorgeous girlfriend, where does that leave me?" Joey asked in a put out voice. "Alone and without my encore?"

Chuckling, Charlie put her arm around Joey's shoulder. "I'm too tired for an encore, but as to the gorgeous girlfriend part, that's you silly."

"You're very good for stroking my ego."

"Just good for stroking your ego?" she said with a suggestive smirk.

"Since we're just snuggling tonight, then yes, just stroking my ego." She brushed her lips across Charlie's. "You can stroke the other places when you're up to it next."

"Done."

"Hey, did you notice that Graves and her redhead left together," she said. "Looks like she might be about to find out whether that talk about redheads is true or not," Joey teasingly said.

"I wish I had never said anything about redheads," muttered Charlie.