CHARLIE'S POV

Brax holds his hands over my eyes, as he leads me away from the car and down a pebbly path.

'Where are we going?' I ask him, full of wonder.

'If I told you that, it would ruin the surprise,' he replies; I can practically hear his smile in his tone.

He continues to lead me along. I can smell the ocean, so my first thought is that maybe we've just gone to the beach, and not as far out of town as I thought we had. But I can't hear any waves, which is unusual for Summer Bay, where the swell is always unusually good.

'We're not at the beach, are we?' I ask.

'Stop trying to guess,' Brax says. 'Even if you guess right, I won't tell you.'

'Come onnnn, the suspense is killing me!'

Brax laughs, and I think I've finally gotten him to cave. 'Fine,' he says. 'On the count of three...two...one...' He lifts his hands from my eyes, and it takes a moment before I can see clearly. We are standing on a path, overlooking a secluded beach, with blindingly white sand and crystal clear water, the surface of which is hardly broken by waves. The scene is completely calm, and so beautiful, and a little way down on the sand I see what appears to be a blanket, and a basket.

'Awww Brax,' I say, walking a little further down the path. 'This place is gorgeous...How did you find it?'

'A guy has to have his secrets,' he said, moving to stand beside me. 'Come on, there's a hamper down there full of food with our name on it.' He takes my hand in his and pulls me along, with no resistance from me at all.

'You've been spoiling me so much the last few days,' I say. 'I'm never going to be able to make this up to you.'

'Hey you don't have to,' Brax says. 'This is just my way of letting you know how I feel about you, in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, you feel the same way .'

I laugh. 'I'll let you know at the end of the day.'

Brax smiles. I have to figure he already knows what my answer will be.

Later that Day:

BRAX'S POV

Charlie's hair smells like salt and sand; I breathe in the familiar scent as she rests her head on my shoulder as we head towards Leah's house. The porch light is already on; I know that nobody else will be home, so it is as if the sensor-light was already expecting us.

'Today was wonderful,' Charlie says, turning to face me, wrapping her arms around me in that embrace only she can give. 'This whole week was wonderful. You're wonderful. Thank you so much.' The smile she wore as she said this could have lit up the porch without the aid of the sensor-light, as cliché as that might sound. I gaze into her eyes, and she reaches up and kisses me; I hold her there for just a few extra seconds, unable to tear myself away.

'I do try,' I say, a little cockily, but Charlie knows I'm just kidding around.

'Seriously,' she says, 'you're probably just about the best thing in my life right now. With or without the week's worth of spoiling...'

'Think nothing of it, babe,' I tell her. 'It's nothing more than what you deserve.' Charlie turns to open up the front door, but before we go inside, I pull her back into my arms. 'So...you said you would tell me something at the end of the day.'

'Did I?'

'Yeah,' I say. She knows exactly what I'm referring to.

'Well you know...' She slips closer towards me; I didn't think it was possible, but she proves me wrong. '...I was always much better at show than tell.'

'Is that so?' I ask, unable to stop myself from smiling.

We back through the front door, and Charlie reaches up to turn the kitchen light on.

'Yes, it is,' she says, laughing. We kiss a few more times, before Charlie abruptly pulls away from me.

'Oh my God,' she says, completely letting going of me.

'What?' I start looking around, trying to follow her gaze, which keeps darting all over the place.

'The house...' she says, spinning around. I didn't notice at first, but the kitchen is all out of order. Drawers are pulled out, plates and cups are in pieces on the ground, fruit and vegetables are scattered everywhere. Charlie heads into the living room, turning on the light as she goes; the scene in there is even worse – furniture is turned over, there's just mess and disarray everywhere.

'What the hell?' Charlie says, her voice full of horror. 'Someone's trashed the place...' I don't know what to say, because I know she's right. I start searching all the other rooms, but whoever the culprit was has left the house. I come out of VJ's room, and see Charlie almost in tears. She turns to me, perhaps looking for answers, but I don't even know how to console her. 'Brax...Brax – who...who would have – '

'I've got no idea, Charlie,' I say, and that's the honest truth. A few thoughts come to mind, but with Hammer behind bars, the Boys none the wiser, and Brodie six feet under (although even if he were alive I know he would never try anything like this now), they're just guesses.

'Why would someone do this?' she asks. I know this can't be good for her still fragile state, so I do my best to calm her down.

'I don't know, but whoever it was, we'll find out,' I say.

'We have to call the police,' Charlie says, looking for the phone. Of course, it's not in its usual place. The cord is pulled out of the wall, and Charlie starts scrambling for it, her hands shaking.

'Charles, we can't,' I say.

'Why not?'

'Because they'd see us together, and they'd start asking questions...'

'So you have to leave then,' Charlie says, her voice shaking. She's being irrational, slipping back into that unstable state.

'There's no way I'm leaving you alone, not now, of all times...'

'Go now, or we get caught, it's up to you.' She has the phone cord in the wall and is already in the process of dialling 000. 'Please Brax. I don't want to lose you over this.'

Charlie's POV:

Around 10 minutes have passed since I called the police and they have finally shown up. With much argument I finally persuaded Brax to leave, on one condition that Ruby came home to make sure I was okay. Ruby had rushed home when she got the call from Brax.

Ruby is sitting next to me on the lounge while police officers scan every detail of the house, dusting for fingerprints, looking for any sign of who did this.

Around half an hour later they cops have left, it' just me and Ruby. The house is still a mess, worse now that the cops have raided it. it looks horrible. I need to fix it! Ruby goes out the front to make a call, to Casey no doubt, while she does, I begin cleaning the house. Before I know it, Brax shows up, but I've only finished cleaning the kitchen. He can't see the house like this!

"You can't come in!" I say sternly to him. He gives me a confused look. "I'm serious... you can't come in! You have to go!"

"Why Charlie? Let me in, you need to talk about this" he pleads

"The house is a mess; you can't see it like this!

'I've already seen it! Alright, this is ridiculous, let me help you.'

"Uh... okay" I give in and open the door wider to let him in.

Brax follows me inside, and sits down on the lounge. Ruby is in her room cleaning the mess, so it is just the two of us.

He motions me to sit beside him, but I simply can't. The house needs to be cleaned!

"No Brax", I say to him, whilst picking up cushions off the floor "I need to clean first" I look at him sadly "please?"

He nods knowingly. Surely he knows it's just something I must do.

He decides to help me clean, and before I know it, the house was looking like it used to. It made me feel so much better.

We snuggle on the lounge, turn on the TV and start to watch a movie like nothing is wrong.

I look up at him with worry in my eyes.

He turns the TV off and looks at me. "What's wrong?"

"Am I safe?" I ask with sincerity, "I can't go through being scared for my life again, I just can't! All that stuff with Brodie and Hammer, and losing our baby, I just, I don't think I will be able to cope again!" I say, as tears start streaming down my face.

"I will never let anything happen to you Charlie! I love you so much and I will protect you at all costs okay!" he says cupping my face in his hands, whilst wiping away my tears. He hugs me and I don't want to let go. I feel so safe in his arms.

"Please don't let me go"

Hey Guys please review, we really want to know whether you like our chapters and if we should continue. We love hearing your opinions, and we love taking your ideas into account :) so please review, and hope you enjoyed it!