Sorry that I skipped yesterday. I left early to go and see Wicked in London (yes, again and yes, that's six times now!) and I was in too much pain and exhaustion by the time I got home. I might not be able to update tomorrow as I might not have access to the internet but if not, I will be back with 'A Different Way' on Tuesday. Hopefully tomorrow though. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's more Joey-centric and gives a little bit of an insight into how she feels.

Chapter Seven

Five days later, Joey and Aden had moved into their new place and already, Joey was happier. She still felt bereft over the loss of Charlie but she continued to pretend that she didn't care and that she didn't feel her heart break that little bit more every time she saw Charlie wandering around looking so frail and sad. It did hurt though. It tugged at her heartstrings and there had been so many moments since their break up that Joey had almost longed to tell her that all was forgiven and they could work through their problems. She was very aware that she had to work hard to cling onto her pain in order to keep the distance between them.

"You're so full of it, Joey!" Aden insisted.

The new housemates had gone for dinner in the Diner, followed by drinks at the Surf Club.

"How am I?" Joey asked, although she knew it was true.

"You might want to hate Charlie but there is no way in hell that you do," Aden stated.

"I do!"

"You still love her."

"I don't!"

"Of course you do," Aden said. "I've seen the way you look at her."

"I'm not in love with her anymore," Joey lied. "To be honest, I don't even know what I saw in her in the first place."

The denial only made her think of exactly why she had fallen for Charlie. Not wanting to get emotional, she downed the rest of her drink. Aden studied her for a moment.

"If that was true then you would have organised a date with Crystal by now," he said. "She's been swooning over you from day one."

Joey cast a glance in the barmaid's direction. Knowing immediately that she was being watched, Crystal smiled and waved. Joey smiled back and the returned her attention to Aden.

"Well?" he said expectantly.

"She's not my type," Joey said.

"What, gorgeous isn't your type?" Aden asked incredulously. "Gorgeous, interested and sweet? Really?"

Joey shrugged.

"It wouldn't be fair on her," she said.

"What wouldn't?"

"Dating her when..."

She trailed off and glared at her friend who had caught her out.

"When you're still into Charlie," he concluded.

"Oh, shut up!" Joey protested weakly.

She tried her drink again but of course, the glass was still empty. Within minutes, Crystal was at her side with a fresh one.

By the following afternoon, Charlie was exhausted and work didn't look like it would be letting up for quite some time. While out playing soccer with Miles, VJ had literally stumbled across a hand in the sand. Now the whole area was a crime scene and Charlie and her team were doing their best to keep everything as low key as possible. Gossip and media attention would be a disaster but they all knew it was only a matter of time.

On her break, Charlie escaped as quickly as she could and drove straight down to the docks. She hurried towards the boat shop that Joey had been working at for a few weeks. Her breath caught when she saw the beautiful form of her ex-girlfriend, happily signing a couple up for a boat trip. Charlie waited and her heart sank when, having dealt with the couple, Joey spotted her and promptly dropped her smile. Charlie approached anyway.

"What do you want?" Joey asked. "I thought you'd agreed to leave me alone."

"I'm here officially," Charlie said, although it wasn't entirely true.

Joey straightened up and folded her arms.

"What?" she said.

"It's confidential but..."

"Then why are you telling me?" Joey snapped. "I'm not your girlfriend anymore. We don't share stuff."

"The waters could be dangerous," Charlie said quickly, not wanting to be brushed off. "We think there's a shark out there."

Joey laughed.

"There are a lot of sharks out there, sweetheart," she said sarcastically. "It's the ocean. That's where they live."

"VJ found a severed hand in the sand," Charlie said.

"Is he okay?" Joey asked, immediately worried about the little boy who had quickly come to mean a lot to her.

"He's fine. A bit shaken but Leah's with him. He'll be okay."

Joey nodded and returned to her work.

"I just wanted to warn you," Charlie ventured. "You know, in case you were going to go out in the water or something..."

Joey resumed her former pose.

"And are you warning everyone?" she asked.

"Well, no... It's not common knowledge for now. The shark theory anyway. It's..."

"Then why are you bothering me with it?" Joey demanded, hating how touched she was that Charlie cared enough to tell her about it.

Aden was absolutely right. Joey wanted to hate Charlie but all she felt was love. She wondered if it was something she would ever be able to forget.

"I was just concerned..." Charlie tried.

"Well, it's not your place to be concerned anymore," Joey replied coldly. "So unless you're actually here as a police officer then don't talk to me."

Charlie gazed at her for several moments too long before turning and shuffling out of the store.

Joey arrived home after a long day at work and was surprised by pleased to find Aden cooking dinner for both of them. She'd been torn between warning him about the potential shark attack and keeping Charlie's confidence. Knowing that he worked out at sea, she'd decided to do the former but fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the perspective, the word had already got out and when she'd walked home, the beach had been crowded with police officers, gossiping public and the ever present media. She caught a brief sight of Charlie, trying to control the crowd and looking unforgivably attractive in her uniform.

"Did you hear all the rumours?" Aden asked.

"Yep," Joey sighed. "I even got a personal delivery of information."

Aden looked confused for a moment.

"Charlie," he realised.

"She came to see me at the shop."

"That was nice of her," Aden said.

"Probably. I kind of bit her head of though. Minus the 'kind of'," Joey admitted.

Aden sighed and came to sit beside her.

"She was just trying to be nice, Joey," he said gently.

"Too little too late," Joey replied.

Charlie arrived back at the police station feeling like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She paused when she saw the crowd in the reception area and the hush of shocked discussion. Moving further into the room, she was stunned to see none other than Angelo Rosetta, her ex boyfriend and the killer of Constable Jack Holden, standing right in front of her. He turned and smiled.

"Hi, Charlie," he said. "Nice to see you again."

Next time... Charlie and Angelo reach an understanding, Angelo gets on the wrong side of Joey and Irene returns home rather abruptly...