Hey everyone, I'm gonna be busy with exams for the next week or so, so this will be my last update for a while. But once I'm done I'll officially be on holidays so updates will be more regular. Anyways hope you like the new chapter. Thanks for reading and please any comments are greatly appreciated.

Waking up on the couch to the sound of breakfast television, Charlie squinted as the morning light hit her eyes. Rubbing them with the back of her hand, she turned to her side and noticed Ruby was no longer sleeping beside her. Removing the blanket that was sprawled across her legs she stood up and stretched, cracking her fingers like she did every morning. Walking down the corridor she stopped at Ruby's old bedroom and peered inside but found it was empty. Taking another few steps down the corridor she knocked on the bathroom and again no response came.

Suddenly panic set in as the worst possible to thought that could pass through Charlie's mind, passed through and sent a terrifying shiver down her spine as thought to herself...Oh my God, there's a mirror in there...and Charlie burst open the door and again found it was empty. The mirror still intact. Placing her hand on her chest she breath a sigh of relief and then cursed her self for thinking the worst of her daughter. Especially after last night. Walking over to the sing she turned on the cold water and splashed her face to wake herself up. Then, while dabbing her wet face with a towl, she heard the soothing sound of Somewhere Over The Rainbow drifting down the hallway .

Walking out of the bathroom, she stopped and listened to the melody. She rolled her eyes up the heavens and had rubbed her forehead, asking herself why she never thought to look in Ruby's old practice room for her AWOL daughter. Moving down the corridor towards the front room she softly opened the door and stepped inside to find Ruby sitting with her back to her at the piano . Leaning against the door frame Charlie closed her eyes and smiled as she listened to Ruby sing the lyrics of the song, her voice gliding over every note effortlessly. It reminded Charlie of when Ruby was a little girl...

...As the eldest Buckton daughter returned from school, she was greeted by her mother as she entered the kitchen. Giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek she smiled as the smell of Elsie's home cooking circulated around the room. The rich aroma was enough to set the taste buds into overdrive. As she filled her mother in on her day at school she looked around and noticed that her father was again absent from the family home. Something she had become accustomed to growing up with a detective for a father.

Just as she was about to sit down and make herself comfortable, she heard the footsteps of a small child running down the hallway towards the kitchen. Turning around her face lit up when her gaze fell upon the small curly head girl bounding towards her with outstretched arms. Leaning forward, Charlie engulfed the younger Buckton in her arms and hugged her tightly as she felt Ruby wrap her arms around her neck. With Ruby in her arms, resting against her hip, Charlie ran her fingers through the little girls hair and smiled at her.

"Hey baby girl", Charlie said as she gave Ruby's cheek a playful squeeze.

"I'm not a baby anymore Charlie", Ruby replied as she played with her big sisters long brown hair.

"I know. Your growing up so fast. Too fast", Charlie stressed as she tipped the little girl on the nose with her finger.

"Charlie come look at what I learned on the piano", Ruby said excitedly as she jumped down from her big sisters embrace and grabbed a hold of her hand.

As she held onto Ruby's little hand she laughed as her little sister practically dragged her down the hallway towards her practice room. Bursting through the door, Ruby ran over to the piano and and struggled as she tried to climb up onto the leather bench. Charlie laughed a little as she watched on from the doorway. Eventually she made her way over and helped Ruby onto her seat and Charlie took her place next to her. As they sat there Ruby placed the sheet music in front of her and began to play.

Charlie listened intently as the melody of the familiar tune drifted around the room. A smile crept across her face as she found herself singing along to the same song she would sing to Ruby before bed or.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high", she looked at Ruby who's face lit up when Charlie began to sing along, and then she too joined in, "There' a land that I heard of, once in a lullaby".

"Wow, Rubes that was awesome", Charlie said when the little girl was finished, "Why'd you pick that song?", she asked as Ruby moved over and sat on her knee.

"Cause, that's the song you sing to me when I have a bad dream", the little girl said, "It's my favouritist song in the whole wide world", she said as she stretched out her arms to demonstrate the big world they lived in.

"You know what Rubes, I think it might just be my favouritist song too", Charlie said with a warm smile as she kissed Ruby on the cheek...

Running her fingers along the last keys of the last few notes, Ruby finished up the song and let out a large breath. Charlie opened her eyes and focused on her daughter who turned around and looked at her mother with a surprised look on her face. Charlie however continued to look at her, completely awestruck by the whole thing. Sixteen years, and she never knew her own daughter hhad such a beautiful voice and that she still had the same extradionary talent for the piano she always had.

"Rubes...that...that was beautiful", Charlie said through a quivering voice as she moved across the room and sat beside her daughter.

Without any prompting or any persuasion, Ruby began to talk to Charlie about her stay in the treatment facility and how she coped during those many weeks alone.

"When...when I first got to the center, I started having nightmares again. Really intense nightmares about everything. I didn't know how to cope. You weren't there and the nurses had so many patients to tend to that they didn't really do anything. Just give me a sedative and leave", Ruby explaind with sad eyes that expressed just how alone she was at that time. "Then, then I started to remember when I was kid and how you always used to calm me down by singing that song to me. So one night I was walking about and I sat down at the piano and just started playing. I did the same thing every single night. And it just calmed me down.".

Charlie placed a comforting hand of Ruby's back and gave it a rub. She felt guilty that she couldn't have been there for Ruby when she needed her. But she reasoned with herself that if she could have been there she would have, it was a situation to which her hands were tied. Looking out the window, Charlie could see that it was a beautiful day. Pulling Ruby to her feet, she decided that they would have breakfast on the veranda at the back of the house. To which Ruby smiled at her mother and followed her out towards the kitchen to help making breakfast.

Sitting outside in the beautiful sunshine, the two Buckton women reminsced about old times from when they were younger, growing up in the family home. Charlie was amazed at how many good memories there were. She never realised it until now, but maybe the good did out weigh the bad. Maybe it was time for her to let go of the past and start building a life towards the future. As Ruby gazed around the garden her eyes fell upon the large lushious green tree at the back of the garden. She smiled to herself as memories from when she was a child came flooding back.

"Wow, I can't believe that tree is still there. Gosh I remember I used to love climbing it all day every day", Ruby said with a small laugh.

"Yeah, I know. Do also remember taking a trip to the hospital with a broken arm after falling out of it?", Charlie asked through her own amused smile as she remembered the day like it was yesterday. And then the amusement in the childhood story was lost on her when she remembered what else happened that day...

...Speeding towards the hospital, Elsie tried to calm young Ruby from the back of the car but the distressed chid was in too much pain to listen to her mother. She just sat in Charlie's lap and cried the whole way there and back while her big sister rocked her back and forth trying to keep her from moving her badly broken arm. A difficult task to say the least. It was hard anough trying to keep the six year old still on a good day. Let alone now with a broken bone to contend with.

As Elsie came uo towards the hospital, she drove directly up to the emergency entrance and stopped the car telling Charlie to take Ruby inside while she found somewhere to park he car. Without a moments hesitation Charlie found her underlying motherly instincts kick into action as se carried Ruby in her arms to the emergency bay and straight up to the nurses who quickly made their way towards her when they seen her coming.

"Please, I need help, she's broken her arm and she's in a lot of pain", Charlie said as the sound of Ruby's crying overwhelmed her.

"Miss, calm down just lay her on the bed and we'll check her over", the doctor said as he looked at the distressed young woman before him.

Placing Ruby on the bed as gently as she could Charlie kissed the little girl on the forehead and then began to run her fingers through Ruby's hair to calm her. Charlie's gaze fixed solely on her.

"Miss, can ask what your relationship is to the child?", the doctor asked as he and Charlie moved outside to the reception area while the nurses tended to Ruby.

"I'm her mum...", Charlie replied without thinking.

Suddenly she realised what she had just said but before she could take back her words, the doctor had gone to bring Ruby down to x-ray. Placing a hand to her forehead, Charlie tried desperatly to comprehend what had just happened. But she couldn't. Shehad just made a huge slip up and now she had to face the rath of her contolling father, who would more than likely blow a fuse when he found out what she had just done.

A couple of hours later, Charlie found herself sitting in the waiting are. Her father standing over her, shouting at her with sheer fury over. Asking her how she could be so stupid while Elsie tried to calm him down. She was always the more understanding. Being a mother herself, she knew how difficult it was to watch your own child hurting. She could sympathise with Charlie, more so than Ross could.

"It just slipped out, I'm sorry", Charlie said as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"Sorry? Charlie sorry's not good enough. Who knows what could have happened if you had let that slip in front of Ruby", Ross said with anger building in his voice as he spoke, pointing his finger in his daughter's face.

"Ross, that's enough..."Elsie began but stopped when saw Charlie rise from her seat.

"I made a mistake and I'm sorry. But I was left alone with my daughter while she screamed in pain. I wasn't thinking straight. I just wanted to comfort", Charlie said.

"But she's not YOUR daughter", Ross said in huseh voice that couldn't surpress his anger.

"YES! Yes she is", Charlie shouted back before lowering her voice when the nurses from the reception desk across the way began to stare at her. "Yes she is. But because of you she'll never know that and I'll never get to be her mum", Charlie's voice trembled as she spoke through her tears.

"Charlie...", Ross said as she tried to reach out and embrace his daughter. But Charlie pulled away and turned to her mother who offered her the warm embrace she was seeking...

"Mum, mum", Ruby said as she looked at Charlie who was lost in her own little world. "Mum, helloooooooo", she said waving her hands in front of her mother's face.

Suddenly Charlie was pulled from her thoughts at her daughter's manic waving and smile at her daughter to mask her pain.

"Sorry Rubes, I got lost there", Charlie said taking a sip of her coffee.

"Riiiiight", Ruby said looking at her curiously. "So um, if we're going to be staying here for a while maybe we should stock up on some groceries?", Ruby asked hoping it would push Charlie into going out.

"Yeah of course. Go get ready and we'll leave in about twenty minutes", she said and watched as Ruby leaped up from her chair and bounded towards her room.

Sitting back, Charlie rubbed her forehead. She never realised how much being back in there old house would drum up so many memories for her. It made her wonder what else from her past would creep up. Standing up she brought the dishes inside and headed for her room to get changed. Maybe a day on in the city is exactly what she needed to get her mind off things.