Sorry about the lateness of the chapter as well as the shortness and lack of action but I promise It's going to get more dramatic soon. Thank you all so much for the reviews. It sounds cliché but they really inspire me to keep writing :)

Chapter 9

"Okay" Charlie took a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves "It's just a date...Why am I so worried about a date?" she looked into the mirror and pushed a strand of long, dark hair behind her ear "And it's with Joey so it'll be fine..."

"Talking to yourself?" a voice sounded from the doorway "Isn't that the first sign of insanity?"

Charlie jumped slightly and whirled around to see Ruby leaning casually on the doorframe "Rubz..."

"Hey" Ruby grinned as she entered the room and slumped down on the bed "What are you doing? Don't you have a hot date tonight?"

"Uh...Yeah" Charlie replied hesitantly.

"You don't sound sure" Ruby observed quietly. She leaned forward and braced her head on her hands, giving Charlie her undivided attention "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's...wrong" Charlie sighed moving to sit next to her sister on the bed.

"Then why do you look like you're about to have a heart attack?" Ruby questioned disbelievingly.

"I don't know how to do this..." the older girl admitted softly.

"Do what? Date?" Ruby asked incredulously "Of course you do"

"Not date...I've never done this with a girl before..." Charlie mumbled.

"Oh" Ruby nodded in understanding "So you're freaking out..."

"Maybe a little bit?" Charlie frowned "I don't know...What if I'm not ready for this?"

"But you've done all of this before" Ruby stated obviously "And...It's Joey"

"I can't remember anything about before..." Charlie exhaled deeply and slumped backwards on the bed.

Ruby turned and narrowed in consideration "What are you really worried about?"

"I don't even know!" Charlie exclaimed, frustration colouring her tone "It's just..." she sat up and swiped a hand irritably over her eyes "She remembers all of this stuff and for me everything feels like the first time. I don't know where we are in our relationship or...or what she expects and how do I know that she doesn't expect something I'm not ready for or..."

"Charlz!" Ruby reached out to her sister and grasped her hand tightly. She smiled reassuringly "Calm down okay? You sound like you're about to start hyperventilating!"

Charlie took a deep breath before she looked back towards her sister and smiled apologetically, a pink tint creeping up her cheeks "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be talking to you about all of this stuff"

"Why not?" Ruby frowned "I'm your sister. You should be able to talk about this stuff with me...right?"

"Right" Charlie agreed softly "But I'm sure you don't want to know about uh...y'know"

"Uh-huh" Ruby nodded thoughtfully "But you know you can talk to me about whatever you want, right? And while I may not be able to help you...In that area I still know Joey so...Talk away" she smiled brightly.

"Uh..." Charlie appeared at a sudden loss for what to say.

"Okay" Ruby said "You were saying something about Joey expecting too much?"

"I remember hardly anything about our relationship" Charlie responded "What if she expects us to just pick up where we left off?"

"Hopefully not" Ruby muttered under her breath.

"What?"

"Hmmn?" Ruby hummed "Oh! Nothing. It's just...Are we still talking about the same Joey?"

Charlie stayed silent and merely shrugged at her sister.

"Joey would never push you into doing something you aren't ready for. She loves you too much to do that. And if she did...She'd have me to answer to"

"Thanks Rubz" Charlie smiled.

"No problem"

"Hey" Charlie said suddenly "When did you get all 'Big sister' on me anyway? That's my job"

Ruby shrugged "I'm only a fill in"

Charlie moved forward and pulled her sister into a tight hug "What would I do without you?" she mumbled.

Ruby pulled away and grinned at her sister "Well for starters Joey would still be trying to tell you that she's gay and you would still be panicking..." she nodded to herself "So I say you would suffer endlessly."

"Yeah" Charlie smiled "You're probably right...Thanks Rubz"

Ruby tilted her head slightly in consideration of her sister "But I'm not all that great..." she spoke slightly more seriously "I could have been way more supportive when I found out about you and Joey...Maybe if I had you wouldn't have s..." Ruby trailed off at the realisation of what she was about to reveal.

"Wouldn't have what?" Charlie frowned.

"Uh...Nothing?" Unfortunately for Ruby her answer came out as more of a question.

"C'mon Rubz" Charlie prodded curiously "What did I do?"

"I don't know"

"You obviously do know or you wouldn't have said anything..."

"I...uh..." Ruby bit her lip and looked around as if looking for an escape route "Charlie..."

"Why do I always feel like you and Joey are keeping something from me?" Charlie asked quietly.

"I'm not!" Ruby exclaimed "It's not something that I'm keeping from you...It's just something you have to remember by yourself..."

"But..."

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Ruby asked already moving towards the door.

"Ruby..."

Charlie trailed off as Ruby turned around and practically ran from the room.

What the hell is going on with her? She thought to herself.

---

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as she closed her sister's bedroom door behind her "That was close..."

"What was close?"

Ruby jumped and whirled around to see Joey standing behind her "Damn it Joey!"

"What?" Joey asked innocently as she moved into the room and sat down on the couch.

"Nothing" Ruby sighed moving further into the room.

"What's wrong?" Joey questioned in concern "Did something happen?"

"No...I mean Yes. It did" Ruby bit her lip nervously "I kind of slipped with the whole 'not telling Charlie' thing"

"What?!" Joey exclaimed "Does she know?"

"No" the younger girl answered shaking her head "But she knows that we're keeping something from her..."

"Okay" Joey sighed "That's okay. It's fine. We just have to makes sure she doesn't find out"

"We?!" Ruby repeated "No...No way"

"Ruby..."

"I'm not keeping this from her Joey. I refuse to lie to her!"

"It'll stop her from getting hurt" Joey responded firmly "If she finds out..."

"When she finds out" Ruby corrected "She's going to be pissed that we lied to her"

"Fine" Joey mumbled in defeat "I'll tell her. But...not yet, okay?"

"Whatever" Ruby muttered darkly.

"C'mon Ruby!" Joey said pleadingly "I'm just trying to do the right thing...It's not like I like lying to her!"

"I know" Ruby replied softly "I'm sorry..." she took a deep breath and closed her eyes momentarily to centre herself before looking back at Joey "So are you ready for your date?"

"I don't know..." Joey glanced down at herself. She had nervously chosen to wear form fitting jeans and a red low cut red shirt "Do I look ready?"

"Hell yeah" Ruby grinned "I'd say Charlie will definitely like"

"Thanks" Joey blushed brightly. They fell into silence for a moment before Ruby spoke up again.

"Joey?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You'll look after her right?" Ruby asked "I mean she's still hurt from the attack..."

"Of course I will" Joey nodded sincerely.

"Of course you will what?"

Both Ruby and Joey looked towards the doorway and Joey's jaw dropped slightly at the sight of her girlfriend "Wow..."

"Good wow?" Charlie grinned as Joey stood up.

"Definitely good wow" Joey mumbled before she began to lean forward. Charlie stopped her however with a finger to her lips.

"Wouldn't that be breaking some kind of date etiquette?"

Joey shrugged and smiled charmingly "But I really wanna kiss you"

"I guess you'll have to wait" Charlie whispered.

---

"So..." Charlie said quietly as she sipped at her drink "How am I doing so far?"

"What?" Joey laughed "You want a score out of 10?"

"If possible" Charlie smiled "I was kind of nervous...If you can't tell..."

"You've been absolutely perfect" Joey responded. She pulled Charlie's hand up and kissed it gently "Best date ever."

"Yeah?" Charlie smiled as she leaned forward so they were mere centimetres apart "You look great by the way...I may have forgotten to tell you..."

"You've only told me three or four times" Joey giggled.

"Not enough" Charlie said softly as she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Joey's lips. Joey was slightly surprised at the public display but returned the kiss anyway.

"So you worked it out than?" a male voice sounded from in front of them. They both pulled away and looked up.

"Hugo..." Joey mumbled as she reached for Charlie's hand and held it tightly "What do you want?!"

Hugo shrugged "I was just passing by...thought I'd say Hi..."

"Right" Joey narrowed her eyes at him.

"For what it's worth" the man said attempting to appear sincere "I'm glad you both worked it out..."

Charlie frowned in confusion "Joey..."

"We were just going" Joey interrupted Charlie as she stood up pulling her with her "Bye Hugo" with that she moved quickly away from the man. She only slowed down when she and Charlie were outside.

"What was that about?" Charlie asked in confusion "What was he talking about, Joey?"

"The attack" Joey answered softly "I guess he heard about it..."

"Oh..." Charlie nodded as they continued walking. They walked in mutually comfortable silence until they reached the door to the house.

"So I guess this is it?" Joey smiled charmingly.

"You live with us, remember?" Charlie grinned as she pulled Joey closer to her "So nope...This isn't it"

"I know" Joey laughed "I'm just trying to make this date seem as normal as possible"

"That's sweet" Charlie spoke softly as she trailed a finger down the other girl's cheek.

Joey grinned and shrugged "That's me"

"Uh-huh" Charlie nodded moving slightly closer "Were you planning on kissing me at all tonight?"

"Well..." Joey smiled "I definitely planned on it. I'm thinking now would be a good time to put my plan into action..." she leaned up and kissed the other girl passionately. Neither of them noticed the shadow which lurked just around the corner.

"I'll make you pay for what you did Joey..." with that he turned and walked away.

"Did you hear something?" Charlie gasped breathlessly as she pulled away from the kiss.

"I didn't hear anything" Joey stated before she pulled Charlie back to her. After a moment Charlie pulled away and opened the door glancing around nervously. They moved into the house and shut the door securely behind them though they remained unaware of the dangers which hid in the darkness.

TBC