Ruby's POV:

'She'll be alright,' Casey tells me, as we sit at the table, attempting to study. 'She's a cop. She's tough.'

'Yeah I know,' I say, still having trouble believing him. 'But we can't be sure. Sid said there was a lot of internal bleeding.'

'Which he also said they got under control; you have to stop worrying so much. If something was wrong, the hospital would let you know, or Charlie would tell you.'

I nod, still in disbelief. Casey puts his arm around my shoulders, but only for a brief moment, before we are interrupted by the sound of the front door opening. It is Brax.

'Hey,' I greet him. 'Have you been to see Charlie this morning?'

'Ahh yeah, I have,' he replies.

'And?'

'And...I don't know. I don't think she's doing too great Rubes. She wouldn't talk to me this morning when I was with her.'

'What? Why?'

'I honestly don't know. But she started pulling away from me. So I was kind of hoping maybe you could try to talk to her.'

'Yeah, of course...' I stand up, ready to leave already. 'Just as long as what you guys said happened is what really happened...You're not keeping anything from me, are you?' I look from Brax to Casey and back to Brax again.

'Of course it is,' Brax says. 'What reason could we have to lie to you?'

I nod. 'I'll see you later Casey.'

'See you.' He kisses my hand before letting me go. I leave quickly, but not before catching a weird look between Casey and Brax, a look that makes me think maybe there really is more to what happened than what they're telling me.

I walk into Charlie's hospital room. She appears to be asleep. The sound of me walking towards the seat next to her bed startles her and she wakes up in a panic.

"Charlie its okay..." I say as I try to calm her down. Brax was right, she is not okay

"Get away from me... doesn't hurt me... Help" she yells, drawing the attention of the nurses in the hallway

"Charlie, it's just me, Ruby, you're going to be okay, just calm down!" I reassure her, but it doesn't help.

The nurses come in, and give her an injection. "What are you doing to her?" I ask with worry painted over my face

"It's just a sedative to calm her down; she'll be asleep for a while. Maybe you should leave, and come back when she is already awake, so that she can recognise you".

I leave Charlie's room without further argument, and head towards the waiting room to wait for her to wake up. There was no way I was leaving this hospital until I had a chance to talk to her

Casey's POV:

Totally oblivious to the world around him, Heath takes his sweet time getting home from his morning surf. It's as if he hadn't heard the urgency in Brax's voice when he called him just after Ruby left.

'What's going on brothers?' he asks, annoyingly cheery. 'What's going on is that a couple of the boys are a little pissy about me leaving the gang,' Brax says, 'and leaving you in charge.'

'What're you talking about? The boys love me.'

'You think everyone loves you,' I say, intending it to be an insult, but I don't think Heath sees it that way.

'That's because they do,' he says with a smile.

'Will you boys cut it out, this is serious,' Brax says, and Heath and I put all our jokes and jibes aside.

'What happened?' Heath asks.

'Brodie and Riley kidnapped Charlie yesterday,' Brax says.

'What?' I can't believe it.

'Yeah, and they beat her around pretty damn badly too.' I can see how pissed off Brax is.

'Why would they do that?' Heath asks.

'To get at me? I don't know.' Brax kicks the wall in frustration.

'How did they even know about Charlie?' I ask.

'I don't know, but the point is they do know. And it's only a matter of time before they tell the rest of the boys.' Brax turns to Heath. 'And Tegan was in on it.'

'What?' Heath fumes. 'How? What did she - '

'Look it doesn't matter, alright. I'm going to deal with this.'

'How? What are you going to do?' I ask.

'Don't you worry about it Case. Just promise me you won't tell Ruby anything. It's up to Charlie to decide if she wants her to know the truth or not.'

'Braaax - ' I protest.

'I mean it Case. The both of you keep this to yourselves.'

Ruby's POV:

Hours pass while I'm waiting for Charlie to wake up. I get up to go to the vending machine for a drink, because my thirst is getting the better of me. I return to the waiting room, and as I attempt to open the drink, I am interrupted by one of the nurses.

"Charlie is awake now, you can go see her now" she says with a polite smile on her face

"Thank you so much" I say with a grin from ear to ear. I put the lid back on the drink and put it in my bag for the time being, as I walk towards her room.

I enter the room and Charlie is sitting up in her bed. She lifts up her head and looks at me, acknowledging my arrival.

"Hi Charlie... I was so worried about you" I say as I take a seat next to her "are you okay?"

I notice Charlie acting strange, and I am hesitant to bring it up... what if she gets upset again?... but I need to ask her...she needs to talk to someone.

"Charlie..." I begin, but then pause, unsure of how to proceed. "What really happened to you? You can talk to me... I'm here for you"

"Nothing Ruby...drop it" she says in a cold tone.

"Charlie, I'm your daughter, I just want to be here for you. I could've lost you yesterday. You obviously need someone to talk to... let that person be me!" I plead

"Please ruby, don't make me talk about it" her tone of voice becoming more emotional... distraught."

"It's okay Charlie; I'll be here the whole time. And when you need to stop you can, but you have to talk to someone okay"

Charlie sighs, tears forming in her eyes, as she begins her story.

"I wasn't in a car accident yesterday Rubes", she begins, her voice already shaky, "I was..."

"it's okay Charlie, keep going" I assure her.

"I was kidnapped..."

I was totally shocked. I can't believe what Charlie was telling me, but I pretended to be okay, as she continued.

"They beat me up pretty bad as you can see" she sobs... "And when I woke up in here yesterday they told me..."

Charlie begins to break down. I could see that Charlie was totally heartbroken at whatever she had been told by the doctors.

"What did they tell you Charlie? It's okay...", I grab hold of her hand, hoping that it would calm her down.

"I...I... I was pregnant" she states, tears streaming down her face... "but I lost the baby... I lost Brax's baby... it's entirely my fault... I'm so weak... I killed our child!" suddenly the machines surrounding Charlie began to frantically beep, and nurses came rushing in.

Charlie was struggling to breathe; panicking... she was totally distraught. Her heart rate had risen dangerously. The nurses gave her another injection, which lowered her heart rate, and before long, she was asleep.

"It really is time for you to leave now" the nurse states coldly " you can't stay here anymore... you mum is in no state to see anyone else today."