Thank you all for your lovely reviews. They really mean a lot to me :) . I tried to keep this chapter as angst and pain free as possible but I don't know if that went very well...Oh well...Enjoy :)

Chapter 12

"Charlie?" Joey whispered as she pressed a soft kiss to Charlie's head. No answer was forthcoming and she smiled internally.

"Chaaaarlie" she drawled slightly louder as she moved her lips to the other girls' neck and began to place tender kisses there.

"Mmmph" Charlie mumbled sleepily "If you keep doing that we're never going to get up..." she turned in Joey's arms and smiled brightly "So it kind of defeats the purpose"

"Hmmn" Joey hummed in response "You're really too sensible sometimes"

Charlie shrugged "Why are you trying to wake me up anyway? It's only..." she glanced over at the clock "8:30 am"

"You weren't asleep" Joey corrected quietly.

"I was half asleep" Charlie grinned "That counts as asleep...So why were you trying to get my attention?"

"I guess I just missed talking to you" Joey smiled softly as she ran a hand down Charlie's upper arm.

"Good answer" Charlie snuggled closer to the other girl and tightened her embrace. They lay together in comfortable silence for a moment before Charlie spoke up "I wish I could remember before the accident...I feel like I've missed so much..."

Joey hesitated before responding "Is it bad that I don't really want you to remember?"

"Huh?" Charlie appeared genuinely confused as she pulled away slightly to look at Joey "Why not?"

"Don't get me wrong...There are a lot of good memories from back then" Joey responded "But there are also some bad memories like...him. I don't want you to remember when we last talked before the accident and..."

"And?" Charlie prompted softly.

Joey bit her lip guiltily "I know this may seem like I don't trust you..." she trailed off when Charlie tensed slightly against her "Never mind...It doesn't matter..."

"No" Charlie shook her head as she pulled their joined hands up and placed a soft kiss on Joey's knuckles "Tell me...I want to know"

"I don't think...In fact I know I wouldn't want to know if there was something that happened that I don't know about...When I was away..."

Charlie appeared confused for a moment before her expression cleared in realisation "Oh...You wouldn't want to know if I was unfaithful to you...Again..."

"I know that sounds kind of selfish...since I'm the one who left you in the first place but...I don't know..."

"But you only left me because of what I did" Charlie said in a pained voice.

They remained in contemplative silence for a moment before Joey spoke again in a slightly more cheerful tone of voice "But none of that matters now...Because we're putting the past behind us, right?"

"Right" Charlie nodded slowly.

Joey gazed at her closely noting that she still seemed quite troubled "I'm sorry I brought that up...I didn't mean to upset you..."

"It's okay" Charlie shrugged in an attempt to seem casual.

Joey sighed and leaned back against the pillow "Great way to kill the mood Joey"

"Hey...It's okay" The older girl reassured her quietly "Really."

"Can we just forget about all of that stuff?" Joey questioned unsurely "Just be together and forget about the past?"

"I'd say that's definitely a good idea" Charlie smiled before she leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss to Joey's lips "I love you"

"I love you too" Joey smiled as she pulled Charlie closer to her "I love you so much"

"Charlie?" Joey questioned breaking the comfortable silence after a few moments.

"Uh-huh?" Charlie responded.

"I think you..." Joey poked Charlie gently in the ribs, grinning when the other girl released a surprised giggle "Need to get up"

"Why?" Charlie smiled "I'm content to just stay here all day"

"Hmmn" Joey hummed "I'd love to but...Your sister is going to get worried and you know what Ruby's like...She'll knock the door down to make sure you're okay."

"Mmmhm" Charlie smiled proudly "My sister's certainly something, isn't she?"

---

Joey and Charlie had barely walked through the kitchen door when they were both engulfed in Ruby's giant bear hug. They were both slightly surprised but returned the teens hug just as tightly.

"Oh my God!" Ruby exclaimed when she pulled away slightly to look at them "Thank God, you guys are okay! I was really worried...I was waiting for you both to get back last night but it was getting really late and I must have fallen asleep or something because I woke up the couch this morning and..."

"Ruby!" Charlie interrupted, placing a calming hand on her sister's arm "Calm down, we're fine"

"And you!" Ruby said loudly as she rounded on her sister "How could you just take off like that when there is a psycho out there? Could you be any more irresponsible?! I mean..."

"Hey" Joey raised a hand cautiously "I'm going to leave you guys alone for a minute okay?"

"Fine" Ruby nodded "But I'm not done with you yet..."

Joey suppressed a smile at Ruby's angry but worried tone "Right..." she turned to Charlie and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek "Good luck..." with that said she released Charlie's hand and walked out of the room, leaving the two sisters alone in tense silence.

"Ruby..." Charlie began hesitantly.

"No!" Ruby held up a hand to stop her sister talking "I have to say this okay?!" when Charlie nodded silently at her Ruby continued "Why the hell would you just run off like that when there's a goddamn psycho on the loose and you've already been attacked once?! You would think you would have learned your lesson by now..."

Charlie resisted the urge to tell her sister that she couldn't remember anything about what happened that night and so she couldn't really learn from the experience. She shifted slightly in discomfort as pain shot through her still healing injuries.

"But..."

"You're listening remember?" Ruby interrupted as she pulled a chair out from the table and guided Charlie over to it "Sit. I can tell you're in pain. Probably because of your stupid midnight run...Right?"

Charlie opened her mouth to speak but shut it again when Ruby shot her a look.

"As I was saying..." Ruby leaned on the table and gazed at her sister, worry clear in her eyes "Do you have any idea how irresponsible it was to just run off like that?! Seriously, Charlie you can't even comprehend how worried I was last night. You...You just ran off and with Joey leaving too...."

Charlie bit her lip guiltily as tears formed in her sister's eyes "Ruby, I'm..."

"I was really worried Charlie!" Ruby continued trying to push back her tears but to no avail "I kept thinking back to that night when you were upset and you ran off! What would have happened if somebody had attacked you? And Joey too? What the hell would I have done Charlie?!"

"Ruby..." Charlie stood up and moved quickly over to her tearful sister enveloping her in a tight hug.

"What would I do if something happened to you?" Ruby sniffled against Charlie's shoulder "You and Joey are the only family I have! When you were hurt the last time Joey was the only thing keeping me from falling apart and...You both just took off and left me!"

"I'm sorry" Charlie pulled away and wiped her sister's tears away "I'm so sorry Rubz. I just wasn't thinking...I was so upset and...I doubt Joey was thinking either. We didn't mean t leave you alone..."

"I know" Ruby wiped at her cheeks with the back of her hand and sank down onto a chair "I'm sorry too...I didn't mean to lose it like that...I was just so worried..."

"Don't worry about it" Charlie said softly as she sat back down in her own seat "You had every right to be upset at me..."

Ruby sighed softly "You won't do it again, right?"

"I won't" Charlie shook her head sincerely "I promise"

"Good" Ruby smiled weakly at her sister before the room fell into silence.

"So..." Charlie smiled happily at her sister "You think of Joey as family?"

Ruby blushed slightly and looked away from "Sure I do. I mean I know I was kind of hostile in the beginning..."

"I don't remember" Charlie shrugged.

"But she was really there for me when you were in the hospital..." Ruby continued "She's like a...sister to me...But not really a sister because that would make her your sister too and that would be kind of gross...I don't know. She's like family to me anyway"

Charlie grinned at her sister's babbling and reached across the table to squeeze her hand "Thanks Rubz...It really means a lot to me that you two get along...Because you really are the two most important people in my life..."

"Okay" Ruby smiled at her sister "I'm going to change the conversation before you get all teary eyed and mushy on me, Okay?"

Charlie stuck her tongue out at her sister before her expression turned slightly more serious "Ruby?"

"I sense a not so happy conversation" Ruby commented nervously.

"I need to ask you something...And I need you to be completely honest with me...No matter how much the answer will hurt me...Could you do that for me?"

Ruby swallowed anxiously "Uh...Of course..."

"When Joey was gone...On the boat..." Charlie took a deep breath trying to dispel the sick apprehensive feeling in the pit of her stomach "Did I cheat on her? With other people?"

"No" Ruby answered instantly.

"Really?" Charlie asked doubtfully "Are you being honest with me? It doesn't matter how much it hurts but...I need the truth..."

"You didn't" Ruby answered "You were a mess when Joey left...You were too busy crying and drinking to do that"

Charlie closed her eyes and exhaled in relief "That's good..." her eyes snapped open an instant later to gaze at Ruby in shock "That's all I did? Crying and Drinking?"

"Yeah" Ruby nodded "You were really depressed..."

"So what did you do?" Charlie questioned "I just...Left you so I could drink?"

"No" Ruby shook her head firmly "I was fine...You were still there for me..."

Charlie nodded silently and they fell into contemplative silence. She stood up after a moment and tilted her head towards the lounge "You coming?"

"Sure" Ruby nodded as she stood up and followed Charlie out of the kitchen.

"Hey" Charlie smiled widely when she saw Joey sitting on the couch, apprehension obvious in her eyes. She jumped onto the couch and wrapped an arm tightly around her girlfriend before placing a sloppy kiss on her head.

Joey giggled at the other girl "So are you two okay now? Are you going to yell at me?"

"We're fine" Ruby nodded surely as she sat on the arm of the couch "And no I'm not going to yell at you. I think I've yelled at Charlie enough for both of you...But Don't do it again Okay? You both really scared me"

"Okay" Joey nodded sincerely "I promise" she reached for Charlie's hand and entwined their fingers causing Charlie to smile brightly at her.

"So I take it you guys sorted everything out last night?" Ruby grinned impishly.

"Yeah..." Charlie said suspiciously "What are you grinning about?"

"You have an um..." Ruby gestured to her own neck.

Charlie's eyes widened and she blushed profusely as her hand shot to her neck to cover the red mark "Joey!"

"What?" Joey smiled innocently "That's not my fault...I'm totally innocent"

"You're lucky I love you so much" Charlie shook her head in amusement.

"Yeah?" Joey asked bashfully.

"Oh you know it" Charlie stated "You have me wrapped around your little finger Collins" she tightened her embrace and they both smiled lovingly at each other.

"You guys are entertaining with your mushiness and all..." Ruby grinned "But I have to go to school..."

"Bye Rubz" Joey and Charlie echoed in unison. Ruby smiled at them and stood up slowly.

She moved over and dropped a kiss on both of their heads "I'm going..."

"Be careful out there okay?" Joey said softly.

"Okay" Ruby rolled her eyes at the older girls' motherly concern. She paused for a moment before she reached out and playfully ruffled Joey's hair "See you guys later!" she rushed quickly from the room without giving them a chance to respond. Joey gazed after her speechlessly.

"Nice look" Charlie burst into laughter at Joey's mussed up hair.

"Hey!" Joey exclaimed as she ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to tidy it "Your...Your sister is..."

"Yep" Charlie nodded proudly "She certainly is"

They fell into silence for a moment before Joey noticed Charlie smiling adoringly at her.

"What?" she questioned subconsciously.

"Nothing..." Charlie shrugged "It's just...My sister totally adores you, y'know? She said that you and I are the only family she has..."

"Wow..." Joey said in surprise "She said that? Really?"

"Uh-huh" Charlie nodded "She said that you're like a sister to her..."

"Wow..." Joey repeated "Really?"

"Yes" Charlie smiled widely at the tears which had formed in Joey's eyes and nudged her gently "You big softy"

"I am not!" Joey sniffled slightly and subconsciously wiped at her eyes "It just...Means a lot to me that she accepts me y'know? That she accepts us"

"I know" Charlie nodded "That's what I said to her" she shifted slightly and placed a soft kiss on Joey's cheek. She began to move forward but pulled back before her lips touched Joey's "Jo?"

"Yeah?" Joey asked slightly disappointed that Charlie hadn't kissed her.

"You know what we were talking about this morning? About when you were away?"

"Yeah..."

"I asked Ruby about it..." Charlie said softly.

"Do I want to know?" Joey asked uneasily.

"She said that I was too busy drinking and crying to do anything like that..."

"Oh" Joey said as relief spread through her "That's good...Well not good that I caused you to be such a mess but..."

"I know" Charlie interrupted "But no more focusing on the past...Like you said, remember?"

"I do" Joey whispered before she leaned forward and kissed Charlie gently.

---

"CHARLIE!" Ruby yelled as she entered the house "JOEY!"

Joey and Charlie ran into the kitchen mere seconds later.

"What?" Joey questioned "What's wrong?"

"I was walking home from school" Ruby said somewhat breathlessly "And there was this guy...following me..."

"Following you?!" Charlie questioned switching quickly to cop mode.

"I think I lost him..." Ruby said as Joey guided her gently to a chair and sat her down "He must have turned off somewhere and...I ran straight here..."

"What did he look like?" Charlie asked glancing at the doorway.

"He was wearing a dark hoodie" The teen answered "And a baseball cap...He had his hood up so I couldn't see his face but..."

"Stay here. I'll be back in a minute" Charlie ordered before she moved quickly outside.

"Are you okay?" Joey asked Ruby softly as she felt her shaking under her hands.

"Yeah" Ruby nodded "I'm just kinda shaky...y'know?"

Joey leaned up and pulled the younger girl into a comforting hug.

Charlie re-entered the room and couldn't help but smile at the sight "I think he's gone..."

Joey and Ruby pulled away from the hug to look at Charlie.

"So what do we do?" Joey asked "What if it's the same guy who attacked you Charlie?"

"We have to report it..." Charlie moved quickly into the living room leaving Joey and Ruby in the kitchen.

TBC