'How dare you!'! A hand slapped her face,Charlie reached for her cheek, wincing in pain as she cowered down doing everything she could to avoid the blazing anger in Joeys face.
"I did this for you Jo, its all for you". Charlie tried to defend herself but it was no good. Joey was angry, every part of their life they had left behind, the good and the bad and in one moment Charlie had risked their happiness and safety all over again.
"I'm leaving with the babies, when I get back I want you gone" Joey ordered.
"Jo I'm not leaving… we can talk this through…. Please". Every bone in her body shook from fear as she realized that her family was slipping through her fingers and there was little she could do to stop it.
"You told him where we live, you left an address on a note, you compromised your childrens safety and mine and your own. How can you live with yourself?" Joey spat.
"Brax wont come after us, he promised, he's over it, he's over us."
"that is the biggest lie that I can even see through it. Brax is waiting to pounce, his crew will be here any day now and you will be able to do nothing to save us. They'll put our babies lives in danger and you…." Joey heaved with a pointed finger …. "you will be left with nothing but memories… memories that will haunt you when you know you're responsible for turning our lives upside down … again".
Tears were falling down her face as she looked into the cot of her babies, the twins were asleep totally oblivious to the anger and growing tension around them. "Joey I will protect you and the babies, you are my world, please let me fix this".
"Fix this" Joey laughed. "We fixed 'this' when we left Summer Bay, we packed up our lives for who knows how long and here we are again, all because of you." She placed her head in her hands, anger had consumed her body for so long that now she wanted to just cry. Her strong demeanor crumbling with every word she tried to speak.
Charlie crouched down, every part of her body wanting to hold Joey but fearing the rejection as she knew Joey would push her away. Slowly one arm went round Joey, then the other. "Joey, please don't cry darling, I will protect you and the kids. You know that I will do everything I can to get back to Summer Bay to our family. Brax is still behind bars and his crew have deserted Summer Bay."
"You don't know that Charlie, you don't know what he will do next. Even if we go back how can you be sure we will all be safe" Joey cried.
"I will promise to look after you if it's the last thing I do" Charlie assertively claimed.
Joey shook her head and pushed Charlie away as she got up. "No Charlie… I will not do this…. I will not leave in fear of what is round the corner. You work this out now, today. If you don't I'm gone with the kids tonight". Charlie watched as Joey walked outside without even looking back. She knew Joey wasn't joking. This was an ultimatum she had to obey….