Hi,

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Here is Chapter 3.

Enjoy.

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Ruby and Brax began to argue when Ruby moved to stand childishly in Brax's way.

"What is going on?" A distressed voice asked from the doorway.

Miraculously Charlie had made it out of bed and leant precariously against the doorframe, using it for support, shocking Ruby and Brax into silence.

They snapped out of it when Charlie began to lose her balance slightly and slowly began to slide down to the floor.

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"Charlie." Sid shouted but Brax beat him to her side.

Brax felt the feather light grasp of Charlie's fingers on his forearms as he caught her before she met the floor. He held her up tenderly, as he let go of a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked gently, nothing more than a whisper, a teasing tone to his voice but when Charlie looked at him she could tell that her bold move has scared him.

"Careful of her chest Brax," Sid cautioned referring to her gunshot wound.

"Got it doc," Brax called back.

Very gently Brax lifted Charlie, who had no strength left to resist. He supporting her as if she weighed nothing, Brax carefully carried Charlie back to the bed, mindful of her chest wound as Sid had directed.

"What are you arguing about?" Charlie asked as Brax placed her on the bed, her earlier conversation with Sid, long forgotten.

Ruby watched from the doorway.

"Nothing."

"Brax, don't lie to me."

"Don't think of it as lying. I just don't want to worry you yet. Okay? In a few days, I'll tell you."

"Charlie, you need to stay in bed, it's too soon for you to be out walking around, you will put unnecessary stress on your body and that's the last thing we need," Sid cautioned her.

"They were arguing?" Charlie reasoned and she again tried to sit up to speak with her boyfriend and daughter.

"No you don't," Brax said and with a gentleness that Sid hadn't seen before, Brax moved as if to hug Charlie but instead used his body to ensure that she lay back onto the bed.

"Doc, said to rest. So rest, don't worry about anything ok. Just focus on getting better so I can get you home," Brax whispered in Charlie's ear bringing a smile to her face.

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"Is everything okay?" Charlie asked Brax.

He had visited Charlie like normal the past week however Charlie noticed that he had gradually began to look tired. A tell tale sign that something was going on outside of the hospital walls that Charlie knew nothing about.

Nothing more had been said, by Brax or Ruby, about the argument Charlie had stopped a week earlier and Charlie was itching to discover the cause of it.

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't it be?" Brax answered with a slight smirk to his face, a look Charlie remembered all too well. It was the look Brax used to give her when they first started seeing each other.

"Why don't I believe you?"

"Dunno, but you should," Brax attempted to convince her.

Charlie just stared at Brax and he broke slightly.

"Look, I'm just having some issues with Heath and Angelo's, I haven't been there too much and there's just a few things going on. But," Brax leant forward and kissed Charlie's forehead. "There is nothing for you to worry about."

How was Brax supposed to tell Charlie, while she was still in hospital recovering, that Heath was still talking to and dealing with Geoffrey King.

"Promise?" Charlie asked.

"Promise," Brax answered, silently hoping that what he was promising was true and that there really wasn't anything to worry about.

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Everything came to a head when Charlie asked Ruby a week later, two weeks after her argument with Brax, what the argument was about.

"I don't want him in our lives anymore, Charlie." Ruby said firmly, not wasting any time to introduce her mother to the idea.

"What?" Charlie was stunned.

"You heard me. In case you haven't noticed, you are in hospital because of him."

"Ruby, I am in hospital because of Jake Perovic."

"Who shot you to get even with Brax," Ruby stated strongly.

"Oh Ruby-" Charlie began but Ruby cut her off.

"I'm serious Charlie, if this is how you want your life to be, then I don't want any part of it. I nearly lost you; I nearly lost my mother because of him and the choices he has made in his life."

Ruby teared up as she spoke but she refused to let Charlie comment.

"If you are going to choose a life with Brax the result is a life without me. I do not want to go through this again; I can't go through this again, Charlie, not knowing if you're going to come out of a run in with one of his mates alive or in a body bag. I won't go through it again."

Ruby turned and left without looking back and Charlie found herself looking into the eyes of her boyfriend who stood in the doorway.

"You heard that?" Charlie asked her voice cracking with emotion.

"Yeah I did," Brax replied and the look on his face almost broke Charlie's heart completely.

"That's what you were arguing about the other day?" Charlie asked.

Brax didn't have to answer; Charlie knew she was right from the look on his face.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Since you came out of surgery on the first day."

Charlie's eyes widened.

"Brax, that was almost a month ago."

"I know, Charlie, trust me I know."

"Is that why you've only been visiting at night?"

"Yeah."

"Brax, this can't go on like this?"

"I know that, but, there's nothing else I can do at the moment. I just have to work around seeing you when she's not here. It's the best I can do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you think, I'm going to make you choose between me and your daughter, Charlie, then you don't know me."

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It had been a week since Brax had seen Charlie in the hospital.

He had spoken to Sid each day and asked how she was going however Brax refused to explain why he hadn't visited, despite being asked numerous times.

On the afternoon of the first day of the second week, Brax couldn't stand it any longer.

He found himself sitting in the hospital waiting room till after five o'clock, the time Ruby usually left.

At 5:05 Brax made his way to Charlie's room and for some strange reason he knocked slightly before he entered.

"It's been a while?" Charlie asked after a few minutes where they stared at each other.

Neither liked the feeling of animosity that had involuntarily filled the room.

"Yeah it has. How are you?"

"You're me kidding right?"

"I'm doing this for you, Charlie. Not because I don't want to be around you or be with you. I'm trying to make things easier on you. I don't want you to have to make that decision." Brax said, referring to Ruby's ultimatum.

"You're making a lot of big changes that concern me don't you think?" Charlie asked, she ignored the butterflies that had formed in her stomach at the sight of him.

"I still love you nothing has changed," Brax said through a controlled voice which did nothing to calm the butterflies.

"Then why does it feel like it's changed?"

Brax didn't have an answer.

"It's just proving you can't live without me?" Brax attempted a joke to relieve the tension in the room, but the result was the complete opposite.

"So what? It's proving that you can?"

Brax was at her side instantly.

"Look at me and tell me that you believe what you just said?" He demanded softly, hands on either side of her body as he leant over her.

Charlie looked at him deeply, but she could not find the words she needed to tell him that's how she actually felt.

"It's what I'm scared of though."

"Don't be. Don't ever be scared of that because I don't think I could live without you. I don't care how soft that makes me look. When I found you on that carpet, a bullet in your chest, it was the scariest thing I have ever had to go through in my life and I don't think anything else could happen that could come close to that. My life, without you in it, sucks I've been there before, it's not happening again."

Charlie pulled Brax to her softly, needing him to kiss her as if to reassure her that things would be okay.

"I get out of hospital tomorrow," Charlie said quietly after Brax had pulled away.

She secretly hoped that by being out of the hospital, Ruby and Brax would be able to get back to normal, that maybe it was the hospital itself which was causing Ruby to be too overtop in her efforts of protecting her mother.

"Really? Isn't it a bit soon?" Brax asked.

Ruby wasn't the only one looking out for Charlie.

"Not if I rest and take it easy," Charlie said.

"Tomorrow?" Brax asked again.

"Yes tomorrow. I'm strong and healthy and recovering well. There's no need why I can be recovering at home instead of here. You don't seem too excited."

"It's not that at all, I just don't want you pushing yourself too soon, but, I am very excited to get you out of this bed," Brax commented as he gave Charlie's starch hospital bed a pat, "and back into mine," he finished with a smile.

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"You all good?" Brax asked the next day as Charlie sat down on Leah's couch and rested her head against a cushion.

"Yeah, all good," Charlie answered, happy to be home.

"Can I get you anything?"

Charlie declined the offer and Brax left with a promise of returning later that night, he said he had a few things to sort out at home.

He had told her no more of what had been happening with Heath and Angelo's yet he continued to look worn down and worried.

Charlie pricked her ears when she heard hushed whispers coming from the kitchen.

She listened keenly but could not work out what was being said by the two occupants.

Charlie stood and began to walk into the kitchen to find out what was going on when a rough voice stopped her suddenly.

"I told you, Leah, back off. You are the reason I have money problems in the first place because you couldn't mind your own damn business so I'm telling you again, back off. I don't need any more of your help."

It was Brax's voice and the next thing Charlie heard was the back door being pulled shut forcefully.

Charlie took another step closer to the kitchen and was almost knocked over by an emerging Leah.

"Charlie?" Leah gasped surprised.

"What does he mean, money problems?"

"What does he mean money problems?" Charlie repeated again when Leah hadn't responded.

"Charlie, I don't know," Leah began.

"Leah, please?"

"Charlie, you should be resting."

"Leah?" Charlie asked, more forcefully.

"Look, Charlie he asked me not to say anything."

"Say anything about what?" Charlie asked.

Brax was supposed to be her boyfriend, Charlie couldn't comprehend what in the world Leah knew about him that Charlie didn't.

Charlie listened to Leah's brief explanation of what had happened between Brax, Heath and Geoffrey King and how Leah had tried to help the situation, the explanation left her shocked.

"I want to go see him," Charlie demanded.

"What, Charlie, you've just gotten home, you can't-"

"Leah, you can either take me yourself, or I'll get there on my own. Either way, I am going to see Brax and I'm going to see him now."

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xoxox