Chapter Thirty

The first thing Joey was aware of when she woke up was that she was in a vast amount of pain. She sat up and felt her back crack as she tried to stretch, rub her eyes and figure out where she was all at the same time.

"What are you doing?" said a young voice behind her.

Joey yelped in fright and clutched her chest. Whirling around, she saw Ruby lying in bed looking mildly puzzled.

"Rubes, don't do that to me!" Joey begged, letting out an embarrassed laugh.

Memories of the previous night came flooding back. She'd driven Charlie to the hospital to be with her daughter who had contracted Meningitis. Charlie had asked her to stay until she'd fallen asleep. Unfortunately, Joey had fallen asleep right after and apparently spent the night leaning forward in an uncomfortable chair, resting her head on the side of the hospital bed, upon which, Charlie was still sleeping.

"Sorry," Ruby said.

Joey pulled her chair closer to the little girl.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Sick," Ruby said unhappily. "Am I in the hospital?"

"Yes," Joey told her. "You weren't feeling very well."

"My head hurts," Ruby revealed.

Joey nodded sympathetically and took Ruby's tiny hand.

"You got sick at the top of a flight of stairs," Joey said. "And you tumbled all the way down!"

She said with such drama that she succeeded in making the five year old laugh. But it wasn't lost on her that Ruby was very pale and did not look well at all, despite her attempts to smile.

"Did you sleep here the whole night?" Ruby wondered.

Joey nodded.

"And Mum?"

Joey nodded again.

"Will Mum stay the whole time I'm here?"

"I presume so," Joey said, intrigued by the particular line of questioning.

Ruby nodded thoughtfully and then winced. She had a lot of pain in her neck.

"How long will we be here?" she asked.

"I don't know," Joey admitted. "But we can talk to the Doctor today and see where we stand."

Ruby nodded again and winced again. Joey saw the beginnings of tears and quickly but gently reached out to hold her. She kissed the top of her head and promised that everything would be alright.

"I'm sleepy," Ruby admitted.

It was now the afternoon and she had been awake for several hours. She found the treatment, although infrequent, very painful and she didn't think she'd ever cried so much all in one go. She'd done her best to be brave and she appreciated the company of Charlie, Joey, Ross and Patricia.

"Well, we'll go and let you get some sleep," Charlie said, gently stroking Ruby's hair.

The five year old looked immediately panicked.

"You'll come back?" she asked urgently.

"Of course we'll come back," Charlie assured her. "We'll just step out for a little while and go get some lunch and then we'll come back and spend the rest of the day with you."

"And night?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"I'll be here overnight again," Charlie promised.

Ruby nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"Love you," she said.

"Love you too," Charlie replied, kissing her forehead.

Half an hour later, Ross and Patricia had gone home and Charlie and Joey were sitting at a table in the hospital cafe.

"Thank you for staying with us," Charlie said. "I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Joey replied.

Charlie caught the look of pain on her face.

"You really need to spend the night at my parents tonight, Joey," she said. "You look like you've really hurt yourself."

"Nah, I'm good," Joey said, flashing a winning smile. "It's just a few creaks."

"You can't sleep in a chair again," Charlie said. "You need to go to my parents tonight. I mean, well, that's assuming that you're staying. I guess you really need to go back to Uni."

She frowned, painfully aware of how much she needed her.

"It's the weekend," Joey said. "And let's face it, I don't have anything better to do."

The smiled tenderly at each other.

"Plus, I want to be with you," Joey added. "You need to look after Ruby and I need to look after you. It's just the way it is."

Without thinking, Charlie reached out and took her hand.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "For everything."

Joey squeezed her hand. Once again, she wished that she had handled things differently. If she hadn't made such a stupid mistake and if she hadn't tried to cover it up, then perhaps she would be here as Charlie's girlfriend instead of her friend. Still, it was better than nothing. She was genuinely happy to be of any use that she could possibly be. Even if it could never be anything more than friendship, Joey was determined to prove just how much she loved both Charlie and Ruby and how much she wanted to be part of their lives.

Next time… Ruby continues to improve and Charlie and Joey change their sleeping arrangements…