"I half expected Georgie to fly off the handle when she saw that headline," Joey was saying as they washed up after breakfast.
"I think Jay's presence might have played some part in her keeping her response to a minimal and she might yet be waiting for a better time to vent," said Charlie.
"I'm not so sure that her lack of a reaction was just about Jay being here," Joey said. "I know I've only known her for a short time, yet to me, there seems to be a new calmness to Georgie these days in comparison to the woman I'd first met."
"Yeah, I guess I have noticed something similar myself lately," Charlie murmured. "Actually, it's probably since she thumped Angelo." She shrugged her shoulders. "I thought it might have just been because she was so tired from all the stress she's been under, but maybe that incident was that wakeup call she needed to get her head on right."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Georgie's spoken a few times about not being all that happy with her job, yet despite her saying that, I know she loves it and hitting Angelo threatens that," she said. "Now she is going to have to get a handle on her temper if she really wants to continue in the Force. I think it's also made her realise a few other things need changing in her life. Her reaching out to Shandi came completely out of the blue and I'm hoping it's a sign that she's genuinely trying to move forward."
"I hope her moving forward means Georgie talking to a certain few people about a few certain things," Joey said and Charlie knew exactly what her girlfriend meant. While she and her cousin were currently closer than they had ever been, she also knew that there were still some barriers in front of them that needed taking down. However, Charlie didn't think that the middle of a murder investigation was the right time to be doing it.
"How about Perky?" suggested Shannon and she grinned at the glare her girlfriend gave her. All through breakfast, the name-calling had continued and Graves had endured the majority of it in long suffering silence, much to Shannon's amusement. "You know, as a nickname?" she teased.
"I'm hardly perky," Graves drawled.
"There are certain parts of you that are very perky around me," quipped Shannon. "You're covering them up right now."
Ignoring the teasing, Graves finished with her bra and reached for her shirt.
"I can't believe you have to work on a Sunday," Shannon complained.
"I generally have to go into the Station every day when I'm working a big case." Graves walked over to where Shannon was sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'll only be working till mid-afternoon at the latest though, so you're more than welcome to stay here and enjoy the comforts until I get back, if you like," she suggested. "You could even go and fetch your writing gear and work from here, since I won't be around to distract you."
"Yeah, I just might do that."
"I'll let the front desk know to give you a key," she said and kissed her girlfriend goodbye.
Charlie smiled when she felt Joey's presence behind her, moments before her arms circled her waist. "So Charlie, it's Sunday, neither of us have to go into work," she said. "So what then should we do for the day?"
"Well, we could ignore the fact we have house guests and romp around naked," joked Charlie. "Or since Martha is coming out of the hospital today, I was thinking that maybe we could arrange a sort of welcome home party for her," she suggested. "And invite a few friends over."
"In other words, for our day off, you want us to fill up our house with even more people."
It always gave Charlie a little thrill whenever Joey referred to the house as our house. It might not seem like much, but to her, those two simple little words spoke of their commitment to each other. Charlie turned in Joey's arms and hooked her own around her girlfriend. "Martha has been cooped up in that hospital bed and I thought it'd be nice for her to enjoy her freedom with those who care about her the most."
"It's a great idea Charlie," said Joey. "Just one thing though."
"What's that?"
"We order in," she said. "I think it'd be unfair to subject Martha to anything less than the best food on her first day out of hospital."
"Are you impugning our cooking abilities?"
"Damn right I am," Joey cheekily said. "In fairness though, you and Ruby are decent cooks, me on the other hand, not so decent."
"You're improving."
"You were meant to say that my cooking is as decent as yours," Joey complained with a whine.
"And here I was thinking that you wanted honesty in our relationship," Charlie said and jumped away in amusement before Joey could retaliate.
Martha beamed when her son flew into the room and launched himself onto the bed to give her an enthusiastic hug.
"How is my little man today?"
"Great mum," he said. "I met Aunty DiDi yesterday."
"Oh, that's nice," said Martha and then to her girlfriend, she raised a querying brow.
"Shandi," mouthed Watson, much to Martha's surprise.
"She's really nice," Jay told her.
"Yes she is," said Martha. "Shandi is a lot like your mama." She looked over to her girlfriend and held her hand out to her. Watson walked closer to take the proffered hand. "I'm so proud of you for introducing our son to his aunt."
"It was time."
"What made you decide it was?"
"Both Gina and Charlie have been mentioning how protective John and Shandi are of their families and it finally hit me," she said. "Like them, I'd do anything to protect you and Jay." She sighed heavily as she sat on the bed next to Martha. "You and I have always taught Jay the importance of family, yet here I have been denying my own."
"Does this mean you and John will be talking to each other?"
Watson shook her head. "I'm still not yet ready to accept John into my life," she said to her. "Shandi's enough for the moment."
"Well, one step at a time."
"Oh great, you couldn't have told me about the party before I arranged to go with friends to the cinema?" Ruby complained to her sister.
"We only just decided on the party," said Charlie. "And it's more of a gathering of people who care for Martha than an actual party any way."
"Food, booze, it's a party."
"You're welcome to cancel your plans with your friends and join us."
"Nah, you'll still be going by the time I get back, so I guess I'll only miss out on some of the party," she said. "I still wish I'd known earlier though," she muttered.
"So this outrage was all for what?" asked Charlie, knowing her sister all too well. That calculating glint in her eyes was a dead giveaway.
"Well, you could ease my dissatisfaction at missing Martha's return by loaning me 20 bucks."
"It's your choice to miss out on Martha coming home," Charlie pointed out.
"Then can I just borrow 20 bucks then?"
Given the way Ruby had been so willing to accept Joey moving in and then their additional house guests taking over their house, then 20 bucks seemed a small price. She reached for her purse. "Here's the 20," she said. "Don't spend it all on junk food."
"Did you see the paper this morning?" Watson cautiously asked.
"You mean that," Martha caught herself as she remembered their son was in hearing distance. "Yes I read that sorry excuse for a newspaper and I think we should sue that journo's butt."
"It'd be a waste of time," said Watson. "He never levelled any allegations, just hinted at it and as for the shit about me, well, most of it has some truth to it. I was a suspect in mum's murder, I had been friends with one Braxton at least and I have been angry for a very long time."
"Yeah, but he deliberately wrote it in a way that gave it the worst possible slant," she said. "I hate it Georgie, I hate that he implied you and I had an affair, that you wanted Jack gone so we could be together. It's all a bunch of lies."
"Hey, let's just not worry about it," Watson told her, concerned at the way Martha was nearly shaking with rage. "I doubt this is good for your blood pressure to get so worked up."
"It just makes me so mad when people don't see the real you."
"That's just the way it is," she said.
"How can you be taking this so calmly?"
"Aren't you always the one to tell me to let go of the anger?"
"This time you have every right to be angry."
"But I don't want to be angry anymore," Watson replied. "It's too much Martha and I'm tired of it. All my life I've let people's judgements and opinions hurt me, but seeing it all there in black and white, bits of my history, it doesn't seem to hurt as much as it once did," she said. "I don't know, maybe I am finally realising that the people closest to me are the only opinions who matter to me and they're the ones who know the truth about me." Watson smiled at her. "I may even be finally learning how to leave the past behind me."
"About fucking time," murmured Martha with a grin. "Now my love, can you get me the hell out of here!"
"What the fuck am I doing here," Shannon muttered to herself. As she'd left Graves' hotel, she had caught sight of Gypsy and before she knew what she was doing, she had found herself following her. She had no idea why she was doing this, only that she felt some compulsion to keep going. Shannon glanced at her watch. They'd been walking for some time now and she was wondering where Gypsy was leading them. It certainly wasn't to do any shopping, since the area they were now walking through was looking fairly run down. That made Shannon pause as she realised she hadn't seen another person for at least a block now.
"Ok, do I follow or get the hell out of here?" she silently asked herself. As uncertain as she was, a part of her was thinking that this little adventure could give her some great ideas for her novel. She decided to give it five more minutes and then she'd turn around.
Joey looked across the room to find Charlie staring at her. "What?"
"Ruby just left."
"Yeah and?"
"Georgie's not back with the others yet."
"Ah," Joey said as it dawned on her. "We have the place all to ourselves then."
"Yep."
"Whatever should we do?" she said with a suggestive smirk.
"We don't have a lot of time."
"Then we should stop wasting what time we do have."
With no more words, their clothes came off and were tossed carelessly aside. Their naked bodies collided together, their mouths and breasts crushing against each others as their pent up sexual tension finally burst.
"Fuck!" gasped Joey when she felt Charlie's hand between her legs. There really was no time to waste and so they didn't. Fingers stroked and thrust and nipples rubbed together as their bodies grinded against each other in their hasty lovemaking.
It was fast, hard, yet satisfying as the rhythm they'd found sent both women racing toward the edge.
"Oh god yes," Charlie cried out as she climaxed right along with Joey.
"Think we have time for a shower to clean up," Joey said a little breathlessly as they held each other in their arms.
"Shower yes," murmured Charlie. "Anything else, no."
Five minutes had well and truly passed and Shannon was finally preparing to give up, when she saw Gypsy entering a building. The place looked like it hadn't been open in ages. Her curiosity once more getting the better of her, Shannon crept as quietly as possible up to one of the windows and peered in.
She'd barely had a chance to see anything when there was a voice behind her. "Well well, what do we have here?"
Shannon had no time to scream as a hand clamped over her mouth and a strong arm went around her waist, lifting her off her feet with ease.