So I decided to continue...Thank you all so much for your reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter...

Chapter 20

Darkness.

That was all that seemed to surround Charlie. It was all she could see in all directions and the more she moved the further it seemed that she fell into the dark abyss of her memories. She attempted to scream but found that no sound came from her mouth. She was trapped in silence. She felt a hand cover her mouth while another pinned her easily down and she struggled roughly in a frantic attempt to free herself.

"Charlie..." she could hear her name being uttered but it seemed like it came from miles away. The voice however continued "Charlie?!" Charlie clung to the familiar voice and attempted to fight through the darkness. She gasped and sat bolt upright in bed.

"Charlie?" Joey questioned tentatively. She placed a hand on her girlfriends trembling back and waited for her to respond. The only response she got however was heavy breathing "Charlie, baby please talk to me?"

Charlie made no movement for a moment but she eventually turned her watery gaze to meet Joey's worried eyes.

"Hey" Joey reached up to gently wipe away the tears which had begun to cascade freely from the older girls eyes "What's wrong?" she moved her free hand to rest lightly on Charlie's arm in what was intended to be a comforting gesture. Charlie however flinched instantly at the unexpected touch and shuffled away from Joey.

Joey frowned in concern at the fear present in her love's eyes "Charlie? It's just me Honey...its Joey. I'm not going to do anything". Charlie didn't respond.

Joey swallowed heavily "Charlie...I'm just going to reach over you to turn the light on" she continued to gaze into Charlie's blue eyes as she slowly leaned over the other girl "I'm not going to hurt you...I swear..." she flicked the light on and pulled back immediately unsure as to how Charlie would react. She had never seen her girlfriend in this state before and it was making her incredibly anxious. It was usually Joey having the nightmares not the other way around.

"Jo..." Charlie spoke up for the first time.

Joey felt a pang of relief at the sound of Charlie's voice but hesitated to reach out in case she startled her "What's wrong Charlie?" unable to fight the urge any longer she reached forward and lay her hand tentatively on top of the other girls. Charlie turned her hand over and caught Joey's in a vice like grip.

"Char..." Joey was about to speak when Charlie moved forward quickly and flung her arms around her. Though she was slightly surprised Joey returned the embrace just as tightly. A soft sob caused her to frown in worry "Charlie?" she pulled away slightly and wiped Charlie's tears away with gentle fingertips "Tell me what's wrong...Please? You're really worrying me..."

"Nothing...It was just a nightmare. That's all" Charlie's spoke shakily "Don't worry about it"

"About what?" Joey frowned perplexedly.

"It's not important..."

"It seemed important" Joey countered gently, taking Charlie's trembling hand in both of her own "You wouldn't be this scared if it wasn't important"

"Joey?" Charlie's voice came out tearfully and Joey instantly moved closer.

"Yeah?"

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Charlie questioned vulnerably "Can you maybe just...Hold me? I mean I..."

"Of course" Joey interrupted without hesitation. They both lay down in the bed and Joey pulled Charlie closer into her arms "Anytime"

They fell into silence for a while apart from occasionally sniffles from Charlie before she spoke up "Joey?"

"Yeah?" Joey shifted slightly to look down at her girlfriend in pure concern though she still kept her in a tight embrace.

"You love me right?"

"Of course I love you!" Joey frowned at the question "You know that I love you...What's wrong Charlie? Please tell me..."

"If I did something..." Charlie sniffled "Or if I didn't do something that I was supposed to do like maybe...Tell you something...You wouldn't leave me right? Even if this thing was really big?"

"Charlie I don't think you're thinking clearly Honey" Joey said softly as she stroked Charlie's cheek tenderly "But I can tell you right now that I wouldn't leave you again. Not after last time...I love you too much to leave you"

Charlie bit her lip still not seeming entirely satisfied with Joey's answer "But what If I did something...Something that hurt somebody that you cared about maybe? Even If I..."

"Whoa!" Joey held up a hand to stop Charlie from talking "I have no idea what you're talking about Charlie...Hurt somebody I care about? You and Ruby are all I have now"

"It doesn't matter" Charlie sighed sadly realising that she had already said too much.

"Are you talking about Ruby?" Joey asked in confusion "I don't get it...How would you hurt Ruby?"

"Can we not talk about this right now?" Charlie shifted closer to Joey and wrapped an arm tightly around her waist "It's not important right now..."

Joey sighed but lay back down and held Charlie closer to her "Are you okay?"

"No" Charlie shook her head against Joey's shoulder "Not really...But I will be okay tomorrow"

"Oh"

Silence descended on the room and a while later Joey glanced at Charlie to see she had fallen asleep. She leaned over and turned the light off before placing a soft kiss on Charlie's cheek. She lay awake for a while mulling over her brief conversation with Charlie and felt a pang of fear at the thought of more secrets coming between them. She eventually fell into a light sleep.

---

Charlie leaned against the doorway to the kitchen and smiled happily to herself as the sound of her girlfriend singing and the smell of cooking surrounded her. She moved into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Joey lightly from behind "Hey Babe" she dropped a soft kiss on the younger girls neck.

"Hey" Joey smiled as she turned around to face Charlie "What are you doing up so early?"

"The smell of your amazing cooking must have woken me up" Charlie grinned "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"Obviously not since you just managed to crawl out of bed" Joey smiled warmly. She leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to Charlie's lips "But what do you love more? Me or my cooking?"

"I plead the fifth" Charlie said teasingly.

"Hey" Joey batted playfully at Charlie's arm.

"Sorry" Charlie laughed "But you know I love you more than any kind of food or...anything else"

"I think Ruby's right" Joey smiled "You are sickeningly sweet..." at Charlie's pout she continued "But it's totally adorable"

"Where is Ruby anyway?" Charlie questioned taking a seat at the table.

"Probably still asleep" Joey answered handing Charlie a cup of coffee. She sat down at the table with her own coffee and sipped at it tentatively. She put it down after a moment and gazed intently at Charlie. There was no sign of the emotions that had flooded through the other girl last night.

"What?" Charlie questioned noticing Joey's intent stare.

"Last night..." Joey began quietly "What was that about?"

Charlie looked away uncomfortably "Nothing. It was just a nightmare that's all...It just caused me to lose control for a while. I'm sorry that you had to..."

"No!" Joey stated so firmly that it caught both Charlie and herself off guard "Never apologise for needing me, okay? That's not what I'm worried about..." she reached out and took Charlie's hand in her own "I'm just worried about you Charlie. You were really scared last night...That nightmare must have been really serious to have freaked you out so much..."

"It's not a big deal" Charlie shrugged keeping her gaze fixed firmly on their intertwined hands "It was just stupid okay, Jo? Don't worry about it"

"You said that you did something...That you were going to hurt somebody that I care about...What did you mean?"

"I was just talking crazy from the nightmare" Charlie lied "It must have messed with my head. None of that stuff meant anything..."

"You're lying" there was no anger behind the statement, only a deep sadness that caused Charlie to visibly flinch "I thought we were past keeping secrets...I thought that you trusted me enough to tell me anything now..." Joey stood up and moved back to the stove.

"Joey..." Charlie sighed. When Joey didn't respond Charlie moved over to her and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind, resting her chin on the other girls shoulder "I'm sorry okay? It's not that I don't trust you...That's not it at all"

"Then what is it?" Joey whispered placing her hand on Charlie's "Why won't you tell me what's bothering you?"

"I want to..." Charlie responded quietly "But there are so many things stopping me Jo"

"Like what?"

"Like how you would react if I told you" Charlie murmured "If you reacted badly I don't know what I would do. And...There are other people involved in this too. We aren't the only ones who stand the chance of being hurt anymore..."

"Ruby?"

"Yeah" Charlie nodded "This is really complicated Joey...I just can't tell you not right now...Are you mad at me?"

Joey sighed and turned around in Charlie's embrace "I'm not mad at you...I'm kind of upset that you're hurting and I don't know why but...No. I'm not mad at you. At all"

"God, I love you so much" Charlie breathed out.

"You sound surprised" Joey smiled softly.

Charlie shrugged "I've never loved anyone like I love you Joey...Never."

"I love you too" Joey beamed pulling Charlie closer to her "I love you so much" she leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Charlie's lips. Charlie instantly pulled her closer causing them to stumble back slightly away from the hot stove. Joey's hands diverted to Charlie's waist to keep her steady and she deepened the kiss.

"Joey" Charlie panted when she pulled away slightly for air.

"Uh-huh?"

"Nothing" Charlie muttered distractedly. She pulled Joey back into a passionate kiss and they stumbled further out of the kitchen into the living room. Charlie's hands ghosted their way down Joey's neck and chest to the buttons of her shirt which she began to unbutton slowly.

"Charlie" Joey managed to mumble between kissed "Do you...Smell...Fire?"

"No" Charlie responded. She pulled back after a moment "Wait...I can smell fire...Where is that..." she was cut off as the smoke alarm began to go off "Shit..."

Joey pulled away from Charlie and raced back to the kitchen. She quickly managed to extinguish the small fire from the frying pan and sighed a breath of relief.

"Sorry" Charlie grinned not seeming sorry at all "I didn't mean to distract you..."

"Yes you did" Joey smiled pulling Charlie closer by her belt loops "You were trying to seduce me"

"Trying?" Charlie echoed cheekily "I still have to try?" she moved forward and began placing small kissed on Joey's pulse pout.

"No" Joey gasped "No trying needed"

"Hmmm" Charlie hummed kissing her way back up to Joey's lips. She reclaimed them with her own in a fiery kiss and moved her hands to Joey's shoulders to push down the unbutton shirt

"Wait!"

"What?!" Charlie questioned in alarm "What's wrong?"

"What if Ruby's already up?" Joey asked nervously "The smoke alarm did just go off..."

"Ruby wouldn't have woken up because of that. Anyway I wasn't planning on staying in here..." she smiled teasingly at Joey "Unless of course you wanna...risk it?"

"No" Joey shook her head instantly "That is why we have a bedroom. No risk taking nece...mmph" she was taken slightly by surprise when Charlie surged forward and kissed her passionately. The older girl slid Joey's shirt from her shoulder and pulled her quickly towards the bedroom. They entered and she kicked the door closed behind them.

---

"Can I have three coffees please Coleen?" Joey smiled politely at Coleen.

"Of course" Colleen nodded. Before she had the chance to say anything else Joey grabbed Charlie and Ruby and pulled them over to a table.

"Why did you wake me up?!" Ruby groaned as she practically sprawled herself across the table "I could be sleeping right now!"

"And we could still be..." Charlie began.

"Whoa!" Ruby sat up straight and held up a hand to stop her sister from talking "I don't need to know that!"

Charlie shrugged innocently and wrapped her arm around Joey's shoulders "Sorry Rubz"

Ruby shrugged "its fine" she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes "So why am I awake?"

"You needed breakfast!" Joey chirped happily "And it's like 11:00 am anyway"

"Why are you so happy?" Ruby questioned "Wait...I don't want to know that either..."

"Well ya see" Joey grinned "My happiness is all because of your wonderfully amazing beautiful fire hazard of a sister"

"Hey!" Charlie exclaimed "Not my fault"

"You distracted me" Joey smiled "So it is technically your fault"

"Do I want to know?" Ruby smiled.

"No" the older girls answered in unison. The fell into comfortable silence for a moment as Coleen brought their coffees over and surprisingly left without a word.

"I'm glad we can do this" Joey said suddenly squeezing Charlie's hand slightly "That we can just be...Together. Like this"

"Me too" Charlie smiled. She shifted slightly and pressed a soft kiss to Joey's lips "I love you Joey Collins"

"I love you too" Joey smiled adoringly.

"You're both..."

"Sickeningly sweet?" Charlie finished knowingly.

Ruby pouted at her sister "I was going to say uh...Incredibly sweet. I'm not that predictable...Which reminds me...I need something equally as sweet to wake me up..." she grinned at Charlie "You can pay sis"

"Of course I can" Charlie rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile that graced her lips. She looked up at Joey and her smile widened slightly as Joey looked back at her happily. For the moment Charlie could forget about her worries and just be with her family.

TBC