BRAX'S POV

I get the sensation that I'm falling – light whirs around me, but amongst the blur, I see Charlie. Her beautiful eyes, her smile...nothing really different from any other time I close my eyes. I hear muffled voices, the sound of fast-moving feet and road gravel crunching beneath them. I swear that I can also hear my own heart pumping. Everything is all slowed down, and for some reason, it takes me a while to realise what the hell is going on around me, and then it dawns on me that I have actually fallen down.

I blink a few times, a blurry image coming into focus before my eyes. It's not Charlie, but Watson, bending down over me, calling out my name.

'Mr Braxton!' she says. 'Are you hurt?' In the background I hear one of the other officers radioing in for an ambulance. I hope it's not for me. 'Mr Braxton!' Watson yells again. Other faces appear around hers. 'I think the bullet got him...' she says quietly to one of the officers, or maybe it was just at a normal volume. I can't really be sure.

I start to sit up, finally able to feel the ground beneath me. I look over my shoulder as Watson and the other officers move back, giving me some space. Jake Pirovic is lying on the ground, the knife he'd once held to my throat knocked to the side of the road, a hole in his chest seeping out blood.

'God damn...' I say to myself, finally understanding what's happened. I realise that Watson is again asking me if I'm alright, if I've been hurt, and finally it occurs to me that I have been, but not so severely that I need to be taken away in an ambulance. How humiliating would that be.

'I'm fine,' I say finally. 'I'm fine, really. The bullet just, I dunno, grazed me.' She persists that I should stay still until I can get my pitiful battle scar looked at, but I ignore her. The blatant disregard for authority I show in doing so is just the River Boy in me coming through.

'Is he...' I start to say, and then Watson answers my question before I even have a chance to answer it.

'He's dead,' she says. 'Joyce saw the knife, and he acted. So yeah, he's dead.'

I look over at Joyce, who is standing not too far away. 'You're welcome,' he says to me.

It's a little anticlimactic for me that in the end it was the cops who finally got their hands on Jake, and not me. The sound of ambulance sirens becomes louder as reality becomes clearer, little by little. The one thing I know for sure now is that Charlie's nightmare is finally over.

HEATH's POV:

I'm sitting watching the game, still in Charlie's house bored out of my mind. After our little so called 'argument' Charlie had retreated to her room. I didn't want to know what the hell she was doing in there. Brax better have had a really good reason for making me stay here. There is no alcohol in this house and Charlie is getting on my nerves!

Suddenly my phone rings, an unknown number. I answer it, not knowing who it was or what they wanted...

CHARLIE's POV:

Sitting in my room alone staring at the ceiling I think about what Heath had to say. He kind of had a point. I made him say goodbye to his family. I made him change who he was, I should be thankful for all he has done for me.

I kinda felt bad leaving heath alone in the lounge room, but I really wasn't in the mood for any of his antics. Suddenly I heard a knock at the door, and knowing that both Leah and Ruby where out, I concluded that it was Heath.

"Whatever it is heath I don't cares... leave me alone!" I shout rather rudely... I know I shouldn't be acting like this, but he was just really getting on my nerves.

"Charlie let me in! I need to talk to you! It's about Brax... he's been hurt!" my heart sank. I quickly ran to the door and opened it, tears about to fall down my face.

"is... is... is he alright?" I say, now bawling my eyes out. I had been so awful to him the last time I spoke to him... what if he was badly injured... what if he was dying? The worst possible outcomes were running through my head. "Heath please tell me he is okay!"

"Charlie calm down" he says placing a comforting hand on my shoulder he says, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder, which, in all honesty, feels a little weird, considering we're not exactly friends "He has been shot - "

"Oh my god! We have to go to the hospital now! I scream at heath,

"CHARLIE LISTEN!" he screams back, which startles me. I stare up at him waiting for him to tell me what is so important.

"It was just a graze okay; you're getting worked up over nothing! But yes, I'll take you to go and see him in the hospital" he says as he goes in search of his keys.

BRAX's POV:

I'm sitting on one of the beds getting my arm checked out by Sid when I see Charlie rush in. I'm shocked to see her, especially since I specifically told Heath not to tell her. I should've known he wouldn't keep his mouth shut.

Sid finishes patching up my arm and goes to find my discharge papers. Charlie quickly runs over to me and hugs me, carefully avoiding my injured arm.

"I was so worried about you! I'm so sorry for how I've been acting! I don't know what I would have done if something were to happen to you!" she says, her words speeding up, she was obviously about to cry. I use my uninjured arm to cup her face, forcing her to look directly into my eyes.

'Charlie, I'm fine. You don't have to get upset, I promise you I'm fine, and you have nothing to apologise for...I love you!'

She smiles at me in that way that she does, before passionately kissing me. Once again I feel like the whole world has slowed down around me. I forget everything that is going on, I can no longer feel any pain in my arm or anywhere else for that matter. For a moment I forget everything that has happened in the past twenty-four hours, and even before that.

Everything is a blur, except for Charlie. But again, that's pretty much how it always is, and I hope that's how it always will be. I live for the moments when it's just she and I, when nothing else matters but her. It's been a long time since Charlie's actually held me back like this, and I hope the moment never ends.

'Oi! Get a room you two!' a demanding voice shouts. 'Or...or a different room!' I open my eyes, as does Charlie, and we look to see Heath heading out of the room. 'Disgusting...No one wants to see that!'

Charlie and I both laugh. Of course it was too much to hope for.

'Just so you know,' Charlie says suddenly, 'I love you too.'