"Joey, are you ready yet?" Charlie asked in exasperation. "The day will be gone before we even get there at this rate."

"I'm coming," Joey called out from their bedroom.

"So is Christmas," muttered Charlie. In fairness to Joey, this last minute dash wasn't exactly either of theirs fault. A call from the holiday inn during Aden's farewell party yesterday, had caused a bit of panic when they'd been informed that there had been an error with the booking and the inn had accidently double booked their room. Luckily for them, a cancellation had come in, only they had to be there by the Tuesday instead of the weekend. Given her cousin was still on sick leave for a few more days and Peter wasn't due to start at the Station till after Christmas, Charlie had been reluctant to accept the date change. The last thing she had wanted to do was to leave her Station further undermanned than it already was. When she'd heard about their predicament, Georgie had offered to return to work early since the swelling on her face had gone down, but a single glare from Martha told everyone what she thought of that idea. Thankfully, Peter had stepped up. He was already becoming bored of just sitting around and was itching to cut short his leave and get to work, so she had been more than happy to accommodate him. She'd owe him big time in the future for this. Perhaps when he finally got around to asking Leah out on a date instead of just flirting with her, he'd call in the favour.

Charlie grinned. It was obvious Peter was captivated by Leah if his recent flirtaphon was anything to go by. While he'd yet to actually ask Leah out on an official date, he had spent an amazing amount of his spare time at the Diner. Gathering information about the town in preparation for his job was his excuse for eating there all the time. Joey thought it was more the lure of a certain dark-haired Greek girl that had him virtually living there. Leah wasn't much better. Whenever Peter was there and there was a lull in customers, Leah was often seen chatting to Peter. It appeared as if poor old Robertson had been forgotten completely. She was happy for her friend though. After Brax's betrayal, Leah could easily have fallen into a heap, yet she was moving on with her life and was really revelling in the attention she was receiving from the male population.

"I thought you'd be gone by now," Ruby said when she walked into the kitchen and found her sister there.

"We were meant to have left ten minutes ago, but Joey suddenly decided she had to try on something."

"What?"

"This," Joey said.

Charlie's jaw dropped at the image before her. There, standing in the doorway, was her girlfriend in a bikini she'd never seen before. Actually, calling it a bikini implied that there was some sort of swimsuit on Joey's body, when in fact, it was little more than a strip of cloth that barely covered her nipples and the bottoms weren't much different.

"You like?" purred Joey.

"Charlie's speechless, so I'd say it's a big yes from her," Ruby answered for her sister.

"I really wasn't sure whether to take it with me to the Inn or not, but your reaction says I should," Joey smirked to her girlfriend.

Charlie's wits finally returned and she shook her head at Joey. "You are not going to wear that seat belt in public," she said.

"Who said anything about wearing it in public," Joey returned with added sass.

"Oh god, can you two please wait until you're out the door before you start talking like this again," Ruby pleaded with them.

"Ok," Joey said. "I'll just go cover up." With her back to Charlie, Joey peered over her shoulder at her girlfriend with a sultry look. "Or I could stay like this, since it will be hot in the car on the ride to the Inn and this bikini would allow the air to blow more freely against my skin."

"If you don't cover up, the car will combust from the heat," Charlie warned her. "Oh wow," she murmured when Joey walked toward the bedroom with much laughter.

"Charlie, you know how I said yesterday that I wanted to hear all about your holiday?" Ruby said. "Well I've changed my mind. I don't want to know anything about it."

"Relax Charlie, I'm old enough to stay by myself," Ruby said when it came time to see her sister and Joey off. "And Georgie and Martha have invited me over for tea the two nights you're going to be away for, so I'm hardly going to starve."

"Ok, but call if anything happens."

"If it will make you feel better, I promise I'll call if there's an emergency."

"Why would there be an emergency?" said Charlie.

"There won't be Charlie," said Ruby. "Now could you please go," she said. "I have a party to organise."

"Party?" said Charlie. "What party?"

"Charlie, she's teasing," Joey told her. "Now get in the car or we'll never get out of here." With her girlfriend safely in the car, Joey turned to Ruby. "Stay out of trouble," she told Ruby as she hugged her.

"I'll be good, I promise," Ruby assured her.

"Say that again without having your fingers crossed," joked Joey.

"I'll be good, I promise," Ruby repeated.

"You had your legs crossed," she admonished with a smile. "Just be sure to clean up any evidence of partying or wrongdoing before we get back," Joey said as she hopped into the passenger side seat.

"Not that Ruby will be partying," Charlie called out from the car.

"Of course not, I'll be the perfect little angel," Ruby assured her sister with a beaming smile.

Joey quickly interrupted any response from her girlfriend to Ruby's feigned innocence. "Charlie, a holiday inn with just me and the bikini," she reminded her. "And the clock is ticking."

"Bye Ruby," Charlie said, the car gunning to life and lurching out the driveway.

Ruby rubbed her hands together. "Time to call some of the gang over," she said to herself. She wondered if Xavier would be free. She hadn't seen much of him lately after all the shit with his brother and John's injury and with school over for the year, Xavier was spending even more time helping out John at the Surf Club. Surely he could have a break for an hour or two and have some fun with his friends. Her stomach fluttered at the thought of him saying yes to her invite. Half her friends already had a crush on him, yet she'd never seen him as anything other than a boy she knew. Until now. He was far more mature these days, so maybe that was why she had suddenly started to find him more attractive these days, but whatever the reason, she was definitely seeing him in another light. Too bad he didn't seem to notice her in that same way, she mumbled to herself. She'd still ask him to her little get-together though. Ruby grinned. Her sister had said no to a party, but she hadn't said anything about not having friends over for an afternoon of watching movies.

"Are we there yet?" Joey said an hour into the trip.

"Nearly," Charlie said.

"Where the hell is this place?" It seemed like all she had seen for the past half hour was trees, more trees and even more trees.

"I'll admit that it's a little out of the way," Charlie said. "But that means it's more private," she said.

"How many rooms are there?"

"Ten, so even with it being all booked out, it won't feel too overcrowded."

"Even if it was, we could just stick to our room," Joey said with a wiggle of her brows. "I'm sure we could find something to enjoy doing there."

"I'm sure we could," Charlie answered with a smirk. "But then we would miss out on the spring that is within walking distance of the Inn," she said. "Apparently the waterfall there is to die for."

"You, me, bikini, waterfall, lets go straight there."

Charlie chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Patience, my dear."

"Fuck patience, I want you fucking me under that waterfall."

Charlie let out a little whimper. She was suddenly feeling very hot and flushed.

Twenty minutes later, they'd reached their destination.

"Oh it's adorable," Joey said of the Inn. It was actually a series of little cottages that looked very inviting to her. Each cottage had a garden, little picket fence and plenty of space between them to give a sense of privacy. "I want to pick one up and take it home with us," she said.

"Sorry Joey, it wouldn't fit in my car," replied a smiling Charlie. "But if this ends up being as enjoyable as I believe it will, then we can make this our little home away from home."

"I like that idea," said Joey. She frowned at a person she saw in the distance. It couldn't be. She put her hand above her eyes to shield away the sun so she could see more clearly. "Charlie, is that who I think it is over there?"

Charlie turned her head. "You have got to be kidding," she murmured.