Chapter 29

"Hey" Joey grinned as she entered the bedroom and noticed Charlie hurriedly pulling on a t-shirt "Where do you think you're going in such a hurry?"

"Joey!" Charlie exclaimed brightly. She moved forward quickly and grabbed Joey in a tight hug "I was just coming to look for you!"

"You were?" Joey smiled as she pulled away from the happy embrace "Why?"

"I just missed you" the older girl shrugged "Do I need a reason?"

"No" Joey took Charlie's hand and led her back to the bed sitting her down gently "How do you feel today?" she placed a hand on the other girls forehead in an attempt to gage her temperature and nodded thoughtfully "You're still kind of warm..."

"I'm fine!" Charlie caught Joey's hand in her own and lowered it between them "I feel way better now"

"Does that mean I get to kiss you now?" Joey grinned mischievously "Because I really, really want to..."

"I don't know..." Charlie smiled teasingly "I am still 'kind of warm' so maybe we should leave the ban in place for now..."

"But...You said that you're better now"

"I don't want to make you ill" Charlie shrugged attempting to keep a straight face.

"I'll be fine" Joey shifted slightly closer to Charlie "Now can I pllleeeeaaasee kiss you?"

"Hmmn..." Charlie bit her lip in mock concentration for a moment "I don't know...I might not be 100% bet...Mmmph!" she was cut off when Joey ducked her head and caught her lips in a deep kiss. Despite her surprise she instinctively raised her hands and placed them on Joey's cheeks, leaning even closer to her.

"Wow" she gasped breathlessly when they eventually pulled away "You really were desperate to kiss me"

"I was" Joey nodded in agreement "I hate not being able to kiss you"

"Hey" Charlie smiled softly as she took Joey's hands in her own and shuffled close to her "Do ya wanna know a secret?"

"Okay..." Joey nodded unsurely and narrowed her eyes questioningly at Charlie "What is it?"

"The last four days..." Charlie pressed a quick kiss to Joey's lips "Have been absolutely killing me"

"Really?" Joey asked shyly.

"Really" Charlie nodded. She climbed fully onto the bed and pulled Joey into her arms, dropping a gentle kiss on her head "Thanks for looking after me for the past few days Jo..."

"It's not a big deal" Joey responded in a hushed voice "There's nowhere else I would rather have been than here with you..."

Charlie gripped Joey's hand tighter in her own and nodded silently.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

Joey hesitated for a moment before speaking "I just wanted you to know that you make me really happy. Happier than I've ever been before actually"

"Good" Charlie smiled down at her girlfriend "Because I want to spend every second making you happy. I love you Joey Collins"

"I love you too Charlie Buckton" Joey grinned happily before Charlie leaned down and kissed her slowly.

---

Joey walked slowly out of the diner humming happily to herself. She found herself unable to wipe the ecstatic grin on her face and highly doubted anything else would.

"Joey" a voice slurred from behind her as she turned the corner.

Joey spun round and found her earlier presumption proven wrong in a split second when she saw Brett hovering behind her with a beer bottle securely in her hand.

"Brett..." she spoke softly "When did you get back? I thought you had taken off..."

"I came back for you" Brett stumbled closer to her and Joey dodged out of the way of his attempt to grab her.

"I can't leave Brett" she stated firmly "My life is here in summer bay..." a soft smile tugged at her lips when she thought of the love of her life.

"Yeah" Brett rolled his eyes at her "I noticed that a few days ago..." he took a casual sip of the beer in his hand before he continued "Saw you walking somewhere with that girl and her sister...Nice little family you have there"

"They are my family" Joey said quietly. She narrowed her eyes at the beer bottle in her brother's hand "Why are you drinking in the middle of the day?"

"Because I felt like it" the man replied simply. He took a final sip of the beer before setting it on the ground "You have to come back with me Joey...We can start a new life. I'll get a job and..."

"Another new life?" Joey questioned sceptically "I don't need on this time...I have all I need right here in summer bay"

"You're not GAY Jo!" Brett said obstinately "You're just doing this to annoy me or...I don't know but you're not gay! It's Sick!"

"Leave me alone..." Joey murmured. She turned to walk away but Brett caught her arm in a tight grip.

"Wait...We need to talk!"

"Ow!" Joey struggled against her brother's unbelievably tight grip on her upper arm "Let go Brett...You're hurting me!"

Brett merely tightened his grip on her arm causing her to wince in pain "They're not your family Joey! I'm your family"

"They care about me!" Joey insisted weakly "Which is more than I can say for you!"

"What are you talking about?!" Brett scowled angrily "They don't care about you Jo! The Cop...She's taking advantage of you with this stupid Gay thing!"

"Her name's Charlie!" Joey stated still struggling valiantly against his grip "And she loves me!"

"She doesn't!" the man insisted firmly "She couldn't Jo...What would somebody like her see in somebody like you?!" Joey stilled in his grip and Brett smirked knowing he had hit a nerve "She's just playing you Jo!"

"She loves me..." the girl insisted weakly "I know she loves me!"

"She doesn't!" Brett argued drunkenly "She couldn't love you Joey, you know that and you know why!"

"Shut up..."

"What would Dad say if he could see you now?!" Brett shook his head sadly "He would be so disappointed Jo...It wasn't supposed to be like this...This Gay thing...It's ridiculous!"

"She loves me" Joey repeated again.

Brett sighed heavily "Just come home Joey. You're better off with me than them...I actually care about you. They don't"

"They do" Joey pulled against his tight grip as tears formed in her eyes "You're the one who doesn't care Brett...You've never cared about me. You only care about what I should be...Let me GO!"

"Didn't she cheat on you?!" Brett questioned maliciously "Doesn't that prove that she didn't love you and that you weren't good enough for her...I don't know why you put yourself through this Jo...You'll only end up getting hurt!"

"Let go..." Joey said quietly.

"I guess Dad was right about you..." Brett sneered "You are a waste of space...I was only trying to help but you through it back in my face!"

"Dad's dead!" Joey said loudly as she continued to struggle against him "And you're just like him...Neither of you cared about anyone but yourselves. You're just narrow minded bigots..." Joey was cut off when Brett raised a hand and slapped her hard, sending her flying to the ground.

"HEY!" two voices sounded at the same time. After a moment Joey looked up to see Ruby and Aiden rushing towards her. Aiden rushed pat her and push Brett roughly away from her while Ruby knelt down at her side.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Aiden yelled angrily at the man now on the floor "why don't you pick on somebody your own size you weasel?"

"Joey" Ruby waved a hand in front of Joey's face drawing the older girl's attention towards her "Are you okay?" she winced at the angry looking mark on Joey's cheek which had already began to bruise "that looks sore..."

"I'm okay" Joey murmured weakly as she attempted to push herself off the ground. Ruby helped the obviously shaken girl up.

"Aiden..." Joey said quietly causing the man to glance at her "Just leave him alone...its fine"

"But he just..."

"It's okay" Joey shrugged "Don't worry about it"

Aiden turned his gaze back to Brett who was still on the ground "Get the hell out of here!"

Brett scrambled to his feet and rushed away from the friend's.

"Are you okay Joey?" Aiden moved closer and frowned at the bruise on Joey's right cheek "You shouldn't have let him go...What a bastard"

"It's okay Aid" Joey patted him gently on the cheek "I'll be fine...Don't worry about it"

"Can you guys get home okay?" the man asked in concern "I really should be getting back to Belle but..."

"We'll be fine" Ruby nodded "Right Jo?"

Joey nodded silently and offered Aiden a weak smile "Go...Get back to your girl"

"Okay" Aiden pulled Joey into a brief hug "Let me know if he bothers you anymore and I'll sort him out for you, okay?"

"Okay" Joey nodded. She watched him leave thoughtfully before she glanced at Ruby "You don't have to walk me home..."

"I want to" Ruby stated firmly as she tugged Joey gently forward "C'mon..."

---

"Joey?" Ruby watched in concern as Joey walked numbly towards her bedroom. The older girl looked somewhat sad and defeated.

"Yeah?" Joey blinked rapidly against the tears forming in her eyes.

"Do you want me to call Charlie for you?" the teenager asked unsurely "I'm sure she won't be far away..."

Joey shrugged before her shoulders slumped once again in defeat "I don't want to bother her" she turned and walked away leaving Ruby gazing after her in worry.

Ruby moved over to the phone and picked it up dialling a familiar number. She almost sighed in relief when the phone was picked up "Charlie?"

"Hey Rubz!" Charlie responded brightly "what's up?"

"Where are you?" Ruby questioned quickly "Right now, I mean?"

"I'm at the station" Charlie answered in concern "Is something wrong?"

"We need you to come home" the teenager answered "its Joey...She needs you"

"What's wrong with her?! Is she hurt?"

"No...I mean yes" Ruby sighed irritably "Charlie you just need to get her as soon as you can, okay?"

"What do you mean 'Yes'?!" Charlie asked her concern turning into full on fear "Wait...Never mind. I'll be there soon" she hung up quickly.

Ruby sat down on the couch and waited worriedly for Charlie. The older girl rushed through the door five minutes later breathless and worried.

"What happened?!" she questioned as Ruby stood up "Where's Joey? You said she was hurt..."

"She ran into Brett" Ruby responded quietly "He hit her and she's been really weird since then...It kind of looked like she was going to cry when we got back home"

Charlie inhaled deeply, anger flooding through her at the thought of somebody hurting Joey "I have to go to her..."

"In your bedroom" Ruby pointed in the general direction of Charlie and Joey's bedroom and watched Charlie rush in that direction.

"Joey?" Charlie opened the door slowly and stepped inside of the bedroom warily. She sighed when her gaze fell on Joey sitting on the bed, her knees pulled securely against her chest.

The younger girl looked up when Charlie entered and offered her a weak smile "Hey"

"Hey" Charlie whispered. She moved over to sit next to Joey on the bed and frowned when she spotted the angry looking bruise on Joey's cheek. She raised a hand and caressed it gently "That looks painful..."

Joey nodded as tears formed in her eyes "It does kind of hurt...a lot"

"What did he want?" Charlie moved closer to Joey and wrapped her up in her arms as gently as she could.

"He told me that I had to go with him so we could start a new life somewhere else" Joey sniffled as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Oh" Charlie frowned and placed a soft kiss on Joey's forehead, feeling fear shoot through her at the very thought of Joey leaving her.

"You love me, right?" Joey questioned insecurely "I mean you really love me..."

"Of course I do!" Charlie drew back to look down at Joey with a pained look on her face "what the hell has he been saying to you Jo?"

Joey shrugged tearfully "He told me that I wasn't good enough for you...That you could never love somebody like me. He said that I'm sick and I'm a waste of space and that you were only using me!"

"Hey, It's okay" Charlie tightened her embrace around the other girl as she dissolved into quiet sobs and felt tears burn in her own eyes "You know that I love you Jo. Don't listen to anything he says, okay?" she felt burning hate rise up in her at the effect Brett's words had on Joey's confidence but she pushed it back down in order to comfort her girlfriend "Joey, Honey listen to me Okay?" she pulled away to look into Joey's eyes "I love you Joey! I'm in love with you and you can't listen to a word he says okay? He doesn't know us. He's just making stupid narrow minded assumptions"

"Okay" Joey said shakily although she didn't appear entirely convinced.

Charlie leaned forward and kissed the younger girl softly. She allowed her lips to linger for a moment before she pulled away "Seriously Joey, If what I feel for you isn't Love I don't know what the hell is...All I know is that I couldn't stand not having you in my life. I want to...I want to...."

"What?" Joey asked quietly.

Charlie looked up into Joey's soothing dark eyes "I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy Joey"

"Really?" Joey smiled tearfully.

"Really" Charlie confirmed without hesitation "I love you so much Jo...Don't let anyone tell you otherwise"

"I love you too..."

Charlie pulled Joey into a tight hug but pulled back almost instantly at her wince "What? What's wrong?"

"Nothing" Joey rubbed at her upper arm "Don't worry about it..."

Charlie moved Joey's hand gently from her arm and lifted the sleeve up. She gritted her teeth in anger when she saw five dark bruises obviously the imprints of somebody's hand on Joey's arm "Did he do this?"

"Yeah" Joey nodded "He was holding on really tightly..."

"I'm going to kill him" Charlie spoke in a low tone of voice "I swear to God I'm going to..."

"Charlie..." Joey reached up and caught Charlie's hands In her own "It's okay..."

"It's not okay!" Charlie stated firmly "I hate that he can just show up and hit you and make you feel like CRAP! He has no right!"

"Yeah..." Joey turned her gaze downwards "He was always good at doing that. I don't know...It's like he makes me feel so insecure when he says all of this stuff about me that I almost believe him. He and my Dad could always seem to find things that will really hurt me..."

"Well they're idiots!" Charlie said quietly as she moved over to Joey and wrapped an arm around her "I don't know any sane person who would want to hurt you"

Joey shrugged "I don't know...Maybe they're right about some of the things they say"

"What?!" Charlie looked at her in surprise "No! They're not right about anything Joey. Don't listen to them..."

"Sorry" Joey mumbled quietly "Brett always seems to do this to me...Makes me doubt everything in my life including my own self worth"

"Don't let it" Charlie whispered "You're worth everything Joey...Got it?"

"Got it" Joey nodded slowly. She leaned her head on Charlie's shoulder and closed her eyes, trying to rid herself of all of the doubts that had resurfaced.

---

"You okay?" Charlie asked quietly as she walked hand in hand with Joey to the diner. Ruby had suggested that they had a girl's night in to cheer Joey up and for that they needed food.

"I'm kind of nervous" Joey admitted quietly "Plus I have a huge bruise on my cheek. I must look a right mess"

"Hey" Charlie stopped and turned to Joey "You look beautiful" she kissed the other girl passionately and pulled her close "As for nervous Brett wouldn't dare..."

"Joey!"

Charlie spun around and gaped at the man in front of them "You..." she stepped protectively in front of Joey and glared at him angrily "Back off"

"Why don't you back off?!" Brett snarled "She's my sister and If you hadn't filled her head with all these stupid lies about how you 'love her' there wouldn't be a problem!"

"I do love her" Charlie reached behind her and gripped Joey's hand tightly "Not that it has anything to do with you"

"Can't you see that she's lying Joey?!" Brett exclaimed "She could never love somebody like y..."

Charlie moved forward quickly and grabbed Brett's collar, slamming him forcefully back into the wall "Shut the hell up!"

"CHARLIE!" Joey exclaimed rushing to her side "Stop it!"

"I could have you for assault" Brett smirked.

"Does it look like I give a shit?!" Charlie growled angrily "You think you can just come back and treat Joey like Crap? That you can tell her that she isn't good enough?!" she tightened her grip on the man's collar causing him to inhaled deeply at the restriction of air "Like hell you can! And I haven't even gotten started about you hitting her yet..."

"Charlie, please let go!" Joey pleaded at her side as Brett gasped for air "You're going to hurt him..."

"If you touch her again..." Charlie said in a low dangerous voice "I swear to God I will hunt you down and kill you myself, got it?"

"Charlie..." Joey tugged at Charlie's wrist trying to pull her away from the man. She gazed at the other girl in wide eyed fear. She had never seen Charlie this furious before.

"I mean it!" Charlie growled before she pulled away and glared at him furiously. She grasped Joey's hand in her own but kept her gaze on Brett "You're pathetic..." she walked away pulling Joey along with her and only stopped when they were a short distance away.

"Charlie?" Joey questioned softly.

"I'm so sorry Joey..." Charlie muttered shakily "I know he's your brother and I really shouldn't have done that but I was just...I was so furious at him for hurting you and I just lashed out..."

Joey silenced her with a quick kiss "It's okay...Just promise me you won't do it again, okay? You really scared me..."

"I promise" Charlie smiled softly. She moved forward and wrapped her arms around Joey, kissing her gently.

---

"Are you both quite comfortable?" Charlie smiled at Ruby and Joey. Joey had snuggled up against her side on the couch while Ruby had sprawled out on the remainder of the couch with her head on Charlie's lap and feet dangling over the edge.

"Very" they both said in response.

"Everyone set?" Ruby questioned. She waited for two affirmative responses before pressing play on the remote in her hand.

"What are we watching?" Joey questioned curiously.

Charlie shrugged.

"The strangers" Ruby responded slowly.

"Ruuuuby!" Charlie whined "Why do you always choose scary movies?"

"Why do you always choose Rom-Coms?" Ruby countered with a raised eyebrow "Anyway...Joey said we should watch a scary movie"

Charlie turned to Joey and narrowed her eyes at her.

"What?" Joey mouthed innocently.

Charlie shook her head in amusement and turned her attention back to the movie. They sat in silence apart from the occasional jump from Charlie.

"Well" Ruby stood up and stretched when the movie was finished "That was fun...Don't you guys think that was fun?"

"I thought the movie was good" Joey offered with a smile.

"I didn't" Charlie murmured darkly "It was scary!"

"And she calls herself a cop" Ruby rolled her eyes with a smile "Well I should be heading to bed...see you guys in the morning" she dropped a kiss on their heads before turning to walk away.

"Ruby?" Joey spoke up stopping her from leaving.

"Yeah?" Ruby turned around and looked at Joey expectantly.

"I feel better" Joey smiled warmly at the teenager "Thanks"

"Anytime" Ruby beamed before she turned and moved to her bedroom.

"Do you really feel better?" Charlie asked quietly "Or were you just trying to stop Ruby from worrying..."

"I do feel better" Joey nodded slowly "I'm just kind of sad that Brett can't accept me for who I am..."

"You don't need him Jo" Charlie said as she turned slightly and wrapped both her arms around Joey "As Dysfunctional as our family is, it's still a family"

"I know" Joey smiled at her "I don't know what I would do without you two..."

Charlie leaned forward and kissed Joey quickly "It's a good thing you don't have to find out..."

"Yeah..."

"Hey" Charlie said suddenly "Do you wanna go out with me tomorrow? Like, on a date? I was thinking about it today..." she placed a slightly longer kiss on Joey's lips.

"Of course!" Joey smiled brightly between kisses "Anything to spend time with you...But you know what I want right now?"

"What?" Charlie smiled.

"I really want you to..." Joey kissed Charlie passionately "Make love to me"

"I like the way you think" Charlie pulled Joey up off the couch and into her arms kissing her deeply "I love you Jo..."

"I love you too..." Joey smiled softly as Charlie pulled her towards the bedroom.

TBC