A/N

Thank you all so much for the reviews, they really do encourage me to write more... so please keep reviewing :)

I would like to dedicate this chapter to Amelia Louisa, who had been my inspiration for the last couple of chapters... A.L hope you like having a hot cop investigating your case ;)

Enjoy!

Chapter six

After another restless night's sleep, Charlie found herself waiting outside the hospital room once more as she patiently awaited Rachel to allow her in to see the patient.

The case was running through her mind once more, it seemed to be the only thing she thought of these days, obviously not including Ruby and Joey, whom she still could not understand why she couldn't get her out of her head. She sighed at the thought of her little sister being attacked by the beach not far from where Amy's body had been found, the thought of how close Ruby had possibly come to death, sent a jolt of shivers throughout her body.

Her mind wandered towards Joey, she mulled over asking her over for dinner as some kind of thanks for helping Ruby out, after a short discussion the previous night after her shift, she knew that Ruby would want to meet her and thank her properly as well.

"Morning Charlie" a voice drew Charlie out of her thoughts, looking up she saw Rachel approaching her with a slight smile.

"How is she today" Charlie asked returning her smile and glancing towards the room that she knew held the Swedish woman.

"She is awake and she is ready to talk to you, but she is still shook up about the whole thing so please be gentle with her" Rachel replied, her smile faltering slightly as a serious tone covered it, Charlie simply nodded and turned to walk into the room.

"Charlie I'll be right out here if you need me" Rachel smiled before Charlie closed the door, moving over to the nurses' station she began to flick through some files, determined to organise them before she finished her shift and left for the day.

Inside the hospital room Charlie's eyes fell upon the young girl laying on her bed staring out the window almost painfully. Her red and puffy eyes giving away the fact that she had recently been crying. Charlie noticed the pained expression on her face, her eyes filled with sorrow and grief.

Charlie cleared her throat to make the almost hollow girl aware of her presence "Hey, how are you today" she asked, knowing that it was a stupid question but feeling obliged to ask.

"Fine... well not really" she replied back to Charlie without even turning to look at her, it was almost an automated response.

"I'm so sorry for your loss" it was all Charlie could think to say, there was much more she wanted to say but she knew while she was in uniform she had to be the professional, and it wasn't as if she even knew the girl before yesterday. She moved towards the chair besides the bed, sitting down she settled for watching the broken girl before her, allowing her a few more moments of peace before she was forced to relive yesterday once more.

"Helga I need to ask you a few questions about Amy... I know it is hard... but it could help us find out what happen to her... are you up for it" she asked while looking at the girls blue eyes noticing that the sparkle that had been there when she met her for the first time yesterday still hadn't returned after she had informed her of Amy's death.

"okay if it would help you find out what happen to Amy"She nodded solemnly as her voice almost croaked, it was obvious to Charlie that she was fighting back her tears, trying to be strong to help find whoever had done this to her lover.

"Helga why was Amy down at the beach all by herself at night... where were you?" Charlie started hoping that her line of questioning wouldn't cause the young woman to start blaming herself for the death, she waited patiently whilst Helga visibly prepared herself to talk, she sighed almost painfully as the visions flashed in her mind of the previous evening.

"I was back at the trailer. We had a small picnic on the beach to celebrate our first anniversary, after that we went to the surf club to have a couple of drinks, we played a few games of pool and then went back to the van, we were… we…."she stopped talking and looked away from Charlie, fresh tears rolled unashamed across her face.

"It's ok Helga, take your time"Charlie soothed gently whilst reaching for the girls hand to calm her.

"We made love" Helga sniffed sadly as she realised it had been the last time she would ever make love to the woman who owned her heart, she finally turned her gaze to Charlie and continued

"I was tired I just wanted to sleep after wards, but Amy… she's a night owl she couldn't sleep so she told me she would take a walk along the beach... she had always been fascinated by the beach and the water... it was one of the reasons we came here on our trip... she wanted to go diving... her dream was to dive amongst sharks... I was scared about it... I kept telling her she was crazy asking her if she couldn't do with just diving down watching the reefs and other fishes... but she'd just laugh at me telling me that I was such a scaredy cat and that sharks were friendly creatures that didn't like the taste of humans" She couldn't help but laugh a little remembering when Amy went on a ramble on about sharks. She always had this serious but dreamy look on her face when she was rambling away about sharks. She had always thought she looked so cute with that expression, it made her heart melt.

"How long have you been here?" Charlie asked cutting Helga from her happy thoughts, causing her soft smile to quickly darken.

"We have been here at the bay for about 10 days now, but we have been in Australia for about 2 months just backpacking around seeing the country. We were supposed to be staying here for six months and then after that see where the wind blew... It was a big dream of both of us to see Australia so we quickly decided in our relationship to save up and come here.... It was actually one of the first things we talked about when we first met. I thought she was so cute going on and on about her dream to go travelling the world and going diving" She cast her mind back sadly to when they had first met, She had fallen head over heels in love with Amy at first sight, before Amy she hadn't believed in such things, but the moment their eyes had met across the room, she had fallen for her.

The first time she had looked in her coconut coloured eyes she had just melted, after their first date they were madly in love with each other. They just seemed to click right away and were inseparable after that date. Their friends used to call them the Siamese lesbians, Oh god she missed Amy. She felt so empty without her. She couldn't believe she was never again going to feel herself wrapped tightly in her arms or kiss her lips. She felt her body lost its battle to stay strong as the tears flowed almost angrily, her body heaving with the sobs that wracked throughout her.

Charlie watched the girl break before her eyes, all the pain and misery surfacing and showing so raw on her features, she felt horrible for being part of the reason for the cause of her pain. With her hand still almost pointlessly soothing Helga's hand, she rang the buzzer, hoping that Rachel would be able to do something to take at least a little of her pain away.

With almost as much speed as superman, Rachel ran into the room, noticing the pain and turmoil the young girl was in, she called out to Julie to fetch a sedative, within moments the sedative had been injected. Charlie watched as Helga's sobs and pain filled cries became weaker and less often, until finally her eyes slid shut, her breathing calmed and Rachel announced that she had fallen asleep.

In her squad car, Charlie headed towards the station a little disheartened, her heart really went out to Helga, she wished there was something more she could do for her, but without any leads or breaks, there was no chance they were going to be able to catch the killer and bring them the justice they deserved.

She had hoped to gain some information from Helga that would help the case, even the tiniest piece of information could quickly turn into a lead which could make or break the case. Unfortunately, everything that Helga had provided her with had been of no use to the case.

Changing her course, she headed for the Diner, desperate to get a coffee fix. She stood besides the fencing, nursing the hot cardboard cup in her hands, appreciative of the warmth and comfort it provided.

Lifting it to her mouth, she gingerly sipped it, savouring in the flavour, wincing slightly as it began to burn her tongue. She lowered the cup and glanced out over the ocean, she always seemed to think better when she looked out over the ocean, as if with each fresh tide it brought her some clarity to her thoughts, or the cool breeze that rushed from the ocean blew the muddled thoughts from her mind leaving her to concentrate on what she needed to.

The murders were becoming harder to hide from the public, they either needed to break the case wide open quickly, otherwise everyone in town was going to go into that frenzied panic mode. Her mind quickly ran back to what had happened to Ruby, which quickly followed as usual to thinking about Joey, she repeated the name a few times over in her mind. Tossing the coffee in the nearest bin she headed towards the car, her mind was made and she intended to follow it.

*************************

Inside her trailer, Joey was trying to read a magazine but her mind kept wandering to her brother's latest victim, she had found her beside the beach not long after she had fled from Charlie's house. The girl had looked so much like her, her hair was roughly the same length that she had kept since she was a teen, the eyes a slightly brighter shade of brown; she even had the same cheek bones and chin.

After she had ran from Charlie's, she had found herself back at the beach. As the sun started rising, she had realised that she had been sitting at the beach almost all night, lost in her own thoughts. When she had stood to get up a familiar sent had reached her nose. She could smell it, smell the fresh blood in the air, instantly knowing what that smell meant, she had made her way towards its source, following the smell as it intensified.

By the time she had found the girl, it was too late, with a sorrow and feeling of helplessness she stood for a moment watching the girls still form, turning away in disgust, she made her way to the payphone, phoning in her usual anonymous tip off.

She hadn't stuck around though this time, she was too scared of bumping in to Charlie, she felt scared about the feelings and emotions that coursed through her at just the thought of her name, it was an unfamiliar feeling to her, she had never felt anything like it before in her life, and that scared her.

The name resounded in her head, she felt the butterflies wake up within her stomach as she repeated the name, enjoying the fluttering and the tingles the butterflies brought to her. She loved how the name sounded on her lips, how just saying the name made her feel, with a slight smile she opened her lips and mouthed the name, "Charlie".

The soft yet loud knock ripped her from her musing, feeling herself blush a little as she realised that she had been indulging herself in the feelings the tall woman provided her. Shaking her head to free her thoughts she rose from the bed, allowing the magazine to fall unceremoniously to the floor.