Chapter 47

"I'm a mess" Charlie observed as she gazed blankly at herself in the mirror. She sighed heavily and ran a hand through her dark hair in frustration "A depressed, flu infected mess"

"What?" Joey asked in amusement as she appeared in the doorway "Hey. You should be in bed"

"I know" Charlie frowned and turned to face the younger girl "But it's boring and I can't sleep right now anyway"

"Well you need to try" Joey advised gently "To get better. Plus I bet you're still hurting from jumping into the river, right?"

"Sort of" Charlie hobbled forward towards Joey "It's getting better now though"

"So...What were you saying?" Joey questioned curiously.

"I'm a depressed, flu infected mess" Charlie said with a soft smile. She hesitated for a moment before she reached out and took Joey's hand in her own.

"You have every right to be feeling down right now" Joey offered a comforting smile though she couldn't help but worry at the tentativeness of Charlie's actions "And as for the flu part...That's what you get for jumping into rivers I guess"

"Yeah...I guess it is" Charlie bit her lip thoughtfully before she looked around in alarm "Wait...Where is Ruby? Has she taken off or something because I haven't seen her today. She doesn't know her way around...What if she gets lost? She could be attacked or anything..."

"Charlie!" Joey exclaimed loudly as she squeezed Charlie's hand interrupting her worry fuelled rant "Calm down. Ruby's downstairs watching TV and you haven't seen her today because you were in bed with the flu"

"Oh...Right" Charlie blushed at her alarm "Sorry about that Jo. I just...I like her to be where I can keep an eye on her. Especially with everything that's happened over the last couple of weeks..." as if on cue her expression fell and she turned her gaze to the ground.

"Hey...It's okay" Joey said softly causing Charlie to look back up at her "I totally understand that you need to be close to Ruby right now"

"You do?" Charlie asked with a weak smile.

"I do" Joey nodded certainly. At Charlie's intent look she shifted uncomfortably "What?"

"There's something wrong" Charlie stated knowingly "With you. With...Us. Something that you're not telling me"

"No there's not" Joey argued as she averted her gaze from Charlie's "There's nothing wrong with me. I'm fine"

"You're also lying" Charlie pulled Joey over to the bed and sat down pulling the other girl with her "I know that there's something wrong. That there's something going on between us. I just...Don't know what"

"It's not important" Joey replied nervously "Nothing you need to be worrying about. Honestly"

"Is it because I've been kind of distant lately?" Charlie guessed "Emotionally and...Physically? I know we haven't been 'together' for a few weeks now..."

"That's not it" Joey shook her head quickly "It's not important right now. Really"

"It's affecting our relationship" Charlie pointed out "So it kind of is important. Our relationship is important...At least to me"

"I didn't say that it isn't" Joey sighed softly "Look Charlie...I just don't want you to have to worry unnecessarily right now okay? It's not going to affect our relationship because I'm not going to let it"

"I deserve to know" Charlie said slowly "I need to know"

"And I'll tell you" Joey leaned forward and kissed her softly "As soon as you're feeling better but right now..." she stood up tugging Charlie with her "Go and see your daughter. She's worrying like crazy down there"

"But..." Charlie began to protest almost immediately.

"We'll talk about it later" Joey held up a hand to stop the older girl from continuing "Now go and find Ruby. I'll be down in a few minutes"

"Fine..." Charlie sighed heavily but made her way slowly towards the door. She hesitated in the doorway and turned back around "Joey?"

"Yeah?" Joey looked up at her lover in concern "What is It Charlz?"

"You're not going to break up with me are you?" Charlie asked vulnerably, fear clear in her eyes "Because I really need you..."

"I'm not" Joey said softly "I promise I'm would never let you go without a damn good fight"

"I love you" Charlie smiled weakly.

"I love you too" Joey said softly as she watched Charlie walk from the room. After a moment she allowed herself to drop back onto the bed "Damn it..."

---

"Hey" Charlie greeted quietly as she dropped onto the seat next to Ruby wincing as she did so "Miss me?"

"Charlie!" Ruby exclaimed before she turned and threw her arms around her mother "You're up"

"Yeah" Charlie winced at the tight embrace "I am but...Do you think you could loosen your grip a little bit there, Rubz? I'm not exactly in tip-top condition right now..."

"Oh" Ruby pulled back and gazed at her sadly "I'm sorry. I didn't meant to hurt you or anything"

"It's okay" Charlie pulled the younger girl gently closer on the couch and wrapped an arm around her shoulders "It wasn't your fault"

"It kind of was" Ruby spoke guiltily "It was my fault that you had to jump into the river after me...Again. And it was my fault you have a cold...Again" she sighed heavily and leaned her head against Charlie's chest

"It's only a cold" Charlie shrugged and dropped a kiss onto Ruby's head "I would rather have this than lose you any day"

"I know" Ruby nodded slowly "I shouldn't be such a Klutz though"

"No you shouldn't" Charlie laughed softly "So...I heard that you were worrying about me?"

"Yeah" Ruby answered softly "I know that you were more hurt by jumping in that river than you showed and now you have a cold so..."

"It's only a stupid cold" Charlie said as she comfortingly squeezed the other girl's shoulders "I'll get over it in a couple of days"

"There's something else" Ruby said intuitively "Something that's going on between you and Joey"

"You noticed that?" Charlie asked in surprise.

"Of course I noticed" Ruby responded instantly "I do live with you both you know. It's kind of obvious"

"I don't know" Charlie shrugged "Not even I know what's going on with Joey right now. She's being very...Secretive about what's wrong"

"Oh..." Worry instantly formed on Ruby's expression.

"She says that she's not breaking up with me though" Charlie blurted out "So that's not what's wrong"

"I didn't think it was" Ruby frowned "I know that Joey would never leave you again. She loves you"

"I know..." Charlie raised a hand to lightly touch the back of her daughter's head where a slight bump could be felt "How's your head?"

"It's okay...It's healing" Ruby answered with a soft smile "It's a good job I have a hard head though"

"Yeah" Charlie smiled before they fell into a comfortable silence.

"Hey!" Joey exclaimed brightly as she bounded down the stairs coming to a stop in front of them "I'm going to the video store to find something to cheer us up...Anything specific you want?"

"Can you get B...?" Ruby started before being cut off by Joey.

"Ben and Jerry's Phish Food Ice cream...Already on the list" Joey nodded before turning to Charlie "Charlie?"

"No...I do have a request on the Movie though" at Joey's nod she continued "Buy anything you want as long as it's as unrealistic and un-depressing as possible"

"Yeah" Ruby nodded in agreement "Preferably a horror movie"

"Got it" Joey nodded before she moved forward and kissed Charlie lightly "Don't worry...I'll get a Rom-com to even it out"

"Thanks Jo" Charlie smiled happily "You're a star. But be careful...It's getting dark outside"

"I know!" Joey exclaimed exaggeratedly before she pulled away and pressed a soft kiss to Ruby's head "I'll be back soon"

"Bye" Charlie and Ruby echoed in unison as they watched Joey walk out of the room.

---

"I'm back!" Joey called as she stumbled through the door laden with bags. When she reached the doorway to the living room she stopped and smiled when she noticed Charlie and Ruby were in the exact position she had left them in.

"Hey" Charlie greeted with a warm smile.

"Hey Joey!" Ruby finally shifted from her place next to Charlie "Did you get my ice cream?!"

"Yeah" Joey laughed as she pulled the ice cream out of the bag and handed it to the teenager.

"What movies did you get?" Charlie asked curiously as she glanced at the bag in Joey's hand.

"I got...28 days later and never been kissed" Joey responded as she pulled the DVD's out of the bag "Any requests for which one we watch first?"

"Zombies!" Ruby answered around the spoon in her mouth.

"What she said" Charlie nodded.

"Zombies it is!" Joey exclaimed before she moved forward and inserted the disk into the DVD player. She dimmed the lights before moving to sit between Charlie and Ruby on the couch "So how are my favourite girls?" she wrapped an arm lightly around their shoulders.

"Better" Ruby answered quietly "I think it's getting easier, right Charlie?"

"Right" Charlie nodded unsurely in agreement and leaned further into Joey's embrace, focusing on the movie.

---

"NOOOO!"

A loud scream caused Joey to bolt upright in bed and look around in alarm. Her eyes immediately fell on Charlie who was sitting up next to her, wide eyed and breathing heavily. Panic was clear on her expression.

"Charlie?!" Joey scrambled to untangle herself from the covers and reached out to the older girl.

"NO!" Charlie yelled pulling away from Joey's touch "You can't...You can't take them. I won't let you!"

"Charlie?" Joey's voice sounded fearfully "What's wrong? Can you tell me what happened?!"

"No..." Charlie whimpered and shook her head "They're not gone...That's not what happened!"

"Charlie?!" Joey reached forward again and grabbed Charlie's shaking hands "Charlie, can you hear me?"

"They're not gone!" Charlie repeated tearfully "Let go of me!" she began to struggle against Joey's grip.

"It's just me!" Joey exclaimed as she held onto Charlie even tighter "Charlie it's me...its Joey!"

"NO!"

"Charlie listen to my voice" Joey said loudly as she shifted her grip "LISTEN CHARLIE! It's just me...its Joey" after a moment Charlie stopped struggling and Joey sighed in relief.

"Joey..." Charlie whimpered tearfully before she fell into her lover's embrace wracked with sobs "You...Ruby..."

"Yeah, it's just me" Joey said soothingly "I'm fine...Ruby's fine. Everything's okay" she found that it didn't take long for Charlie's sobs to slow down and eventually the older girl cried herself to sleep.

A knock on the door interrupted Joey's worried thoughts. A moment later Ruby opened the door and stepped inside looking panicked.

"What happened? I heard Charlie screaming"

"She had a nightmare" Joey sighed heavily "It was really bad this time"

"Oh" Ruby frowned and stepped closer to the bed her gaze focused on her mother "Do you mind if I..."

"Not at all" Joey answered "It might help her to have both of us close to her" she watched as Ruby climbed into the bed next to Charlie who as if sensing her daughters presence wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Night Joey" Ruby said softly.

"Night Rubz" Joey sighed in concern. She lay awake staring at the ceiling in worry long after Ruby had fallen asleep.

TBC