Thanks so much for all of the reviews guys! I really do love to read what you all think about the fic! Hope you enjoy this chapter (Though it is kind of sad). I promise the next chapter will be happier!

Chapter 48

Joey awoke with a sudden start and shot up in the bed. She looked around quickly for the source of her disturbance and sighed when her eyes fell on Charlie who was tossing and turning, seemingly in the throes of a nightmare "Damn it Charlie...Not again" she reached out hesitantly and attempted to shake her wife awake gently "Charlie? Charlie wake up!"

"No..." Charlie whimpered as she flinched quickly away from Joey's touch "Stop it...I don't want to!"

"It's only me" Joey soothed just as she had for the past four nights "It's Joey" she felt her heart break in her chest when tears began to stream slowly from Charlie's eyes.

"Stop it!" Charlie sobbed quietly "Get off me!"

"Charlz..." Joey tentatively reached forward and placed her hand on Charlie's shaking arm in an effort to comfort her. She immediately withdrew it however when it only caused the older girl to freak out even more.

"Let go!" Charlie exclaimed withdrawing quickly from Joey's touch. In the process however her erratic movements resulted in her throwing her arm out and hitting it against the bedside table. Joey winced at the loud thud and Charlie awoke quickly, her panic only heightened by the injury. She scrambled quickly out of the bed, almost falling over in her hurry to get away from the tangled sheets and the presence next to her.

"Charlie..." Joey watched in stunned horror as Charlie backed herself into a corner and pressed back against the wall. Her eyes were wide with fear as her gaze flitted around the room in terror. Joey stood up and slowly approached with her hands up in the universal sign of surrender. She stopped abruptly when Charlie whimpered and pressed back even further against the wall.

"Leave me alone" Charlie whimpered fearfully, her teary blue eyes unfocused indicating she was still in the throes of a nightmare, at least mentally.

"Charlie it's just me" Joey responded softly her own eyes tearing up at the sight in front of her "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise"

"You can't take her" Charlie sobbed openly "I won't let you"

"I know" Joey tried to keep her voice calm though it audibly shook as she stepped forward "I'm not going to do anything. I just want to help..."

"Stop!" Charlie yelled throwing her hands up in front of her as if in defence "Just leave me alone!"

Joey swallowed heavily when she noticed the long scratch stretching from Charlie's hand to her forearm obviously from when she had hit the table. She stopped for a moment and gazed at Charlie trying to discern what she could do.

"You can't take her" Charlie repeated again as tears continued to flow down her cheeks and she wrapped her arms around herself defensively.

Joey stepped back and walked slowly over to the light switch trying not to panic her obviously frightened lover anymore. She hesitated for a moment before she flicked the switch and light filled the previously dark room.

"Charlie..." she stepped forward hesitantly toward the older girl who still appeared freaked out.

"Stop it" Charlie stated fearfully "Don't come near me"

"It's only me" Joey said when she finally reached the terrified girl "You know that I won't hurt you" she wrapped her arms tightly around a reluctant Charlie.

"I hate you" Charlie sobbed as she fought Joey's comforting grip "I hate you!"

"It's okay" Joey soothed fully aware of the fact that Charlie wasn't talking to her "Nothing's going to hurt you here Charlie, I promise" after a moment she sighed in relief when Charlie crumbled against her, her energy seemingly spent and they collapsed to the ground together "I won't let anything hurt you"

"Joey?" Charlie whimpered quietly as she pulled away to look at the younger girl.

"Yeah" Joey smiled tearfully "It's just me Babe"

"I'm sorry" Charlie sniffled as she raised a hand to wipe her eyes, wincing as she did so.

"That looks sore" Joey took Charlie's arm gently in her hand and gazed closely at the long scratch "I'll go and get a first aid kit..."

"NO!" Charlie said quickly; fear clouding her eyes once again "I mean...Could you just stay here with me? I really don't want you to leave right now..."

"Of course I can" Joey said quietly "I'll stay for as long as you need me" she glanced in concern at the slightly bleeding scratch on Charlie's arm. She was slightly surprised when Charlie reached up and cupped her jaw gently causing her to look up.

"I'm sorry I woke you up again" Charlie whispered before she leaned forward and kissed Joey lightly.

"It's okay" Joey said in response when Charlie pulled away "Do you think you can talk about it? What happened in your dream Charlie? Your nightmares have never been that bad"

"Not now" Charlie said quietly "I just...I don't want to be alone right now"

"I'm not leaving you" Joey swore sincerely as she drew Charlie back into her arms and hugged her comfortingly "I'll never leave you"

---

"I just want you to tell me what happened!" Joey pleaded as she followed Charlie from the kitchen into the living room "I'm worried Charlie!"

"You don't need to be" Charlie responded shortly "You shouldn't worry about me anyway...It's not like I deserve it"

"What?!" Joey frowned in confusion at Charlie's statement "What is that supposed to mean Charlie? Of course you deserve it..."

"I just want it to go away!" Charlie stated strongly as she dropped onto the couch "And if I talk about the nightmares...It won't go away!"

"You have to talk about them" Joey said softly as she moved to sit next to Charlie "You can't keep pushing me away. The nightmares...They're getting bad. Or at least the effects are"

"There's nothing I can do about them" Charlie shrugged "I just want to forget about them"

"Last night..." Joey winced as she subconsciously glanced at the long cut on Charlie's arm "You said 'I hate you'...What did you mean by that? Who were you talking to?"

"No-one" Charlie answered stonily though she had visibly paled at Joey's recount "I don't want to talk about it right now"

"You were really upset" Joey sighed sadly as she reached forward and took Charlie's hand gently in her own. She was caught by surprise when Charlie gripped her hand tightly "I just want to help you Charlie...I can't stand to see you hurting"

"I know" Charlie sniffled quietly "But it does Joey...It really Hurts!"

"What hurts?" Ruby's voice sounded from the doorway causing both girls to look up to see the teenager leaning against the doorway a concerned expression on her face.

"Uh..." Charlie started unsurely as she tried to push back her tears.

"What hurts?" Ruby repeated as she stepped further into the room and walked over to them "What's going on Charlie?" her gaze dropped to Charlie's arm and her eyes widened in alarm when she noticed the Long, angry red scratch "What the hell happened?!"

"I had a nightmare" Charlie answered embarrassedly "I went a bit crazy"

"Understatement of the century" Joey sighed quietly.

"Another nightmare?" Ruby frowned as she sat on the arm of the chair next to Charlie "That's the fifth this week"

"I know" Charlie dropped her gaze to her lap "I'm sorry"

"No..." Ruby wrapped her arm around the older girl's shoulders "This isn't an apology thing Charlie...You have nothing to be sorry for. I'm just worried. That's all. I wish you would tell us what's going on"

"I can't tell you" Charlie sniffled tearfully as she stood up "You won't understand Rubz"

"Why not?" Ruby frowned "You can tell me anything you need to even if I don't really understand"

"I just can't!" Charlie persisted in frustration.

"Is it about me?" Ruby guessed obliviously "Joey? Dad?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" Charlie yelled tearfully before she fled the room.

"Damn it!" Ruby exclaimed as she dropped from the arm of the chair onto the couch next to Joey "Why can't I learn to keep my mouth shut? I've made her cry now..."

"That wasn't your fault" Joey soothed quietly as she shuffled closer to the teen and placed a hand comfortingly on her arm "Charlie's just going through some things right now"

"I'm really scared for her" Ruby admitted quietly as she leaned into Joey slightly.

"I know" Joey sighed and wrapped an arm around the younger girl's shoulders "So am I Rubz..." she glanced at the doorway Charlie had rushed through and frowned thoughtfully.

---

"Charlie..." Joey mumbled as she turned over in bed and reached for her wife. When she felt only cold blankets and not the warm body she had been expecting she sat up quickly and looked around "Charlie?!" she jumped out of the bed and quickly pulled her clothes on before she rushed from the bedroom and down the stairs. She paused at the bottom when she noticed Ruby sleeping soundly on the couch, a blanket strewn across her.

"Charlie?" Joey whispered as she looked around the room expecting to find Charlie watching over Ruby. When all she heard in response was the steady drum of the rain from outside she swallowed heavily against her fear and moved across the living room. She looked out of the window to make sure Charlie's car was still there and froze at the sight that met her eyes. The car was still there but Charlie was standing motionlessly in the rain a few metres away from the house "Oh my God..." Joey quickly pulled her shoes and jacket on and grabbed a jacket for Charlie before she made her way out of the house into the rain.

"Charlie?!" she called in worry as she approached the soaked girl slowly, mindful of her state of mind. She stopped when she reached her but made no other movement "Charlie, Honey?"

"Joey" Charlie turned her head to look at Joey, her expression calm though tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"What are you doing out here?" Joey asked in concern as she wrapped the jacket around Charlie's shoulders gently "You're going to catch another cold out here...You're shivering"

"I had another nightmare" Charlie answered slowly "I didn't want to wake you up...You shouldn't have to put up with this stuff"

"Charlie..." Joey reached forward and gently cupped Charlie's cheek in her hand "We're in this together. For better or worse, in sickness and health, remember? If you're hurting I want to help you...Let me make it better"

Charlie barely managed to suppress a sob at Joey's display of tenderness "When he died..." she turned her attention back in front of her "I told him I forgive him" she shook her head bitterly and looked at Joey "When I was raped I told him and he did nothing about it. I can never have any justice for what happened to me Joey. I have to live knowing that, that guy could be out there doing it again"

"Charlie..." Joey reached out and took Charlie's cold hand in her own, sympathy shining in her eyes.

"And they took her away from me!" Charlie choked on a sob "They took Ruby away from me Jo...I lost so much time with her. How am I supposed to forgive him for that?!"

"I don't know..." Joey said quietly as she watched anger and pain burning brightly in Charlie's eyes. A moment later the older girl pulled away from her grasp and stepped forward turning her gaze to the dark sky, completely ignoring the rain "I HATE YOU!"

"Charlie please stop yelling..." Joey pleaded in worry as she stepped forward "You're going to..."

"I HATE YOU!" Charlie yelled at the sky through her sobs "How could you just LEAVE me?!"

"Charlie..."

Joey and Charlie looked up as Ruby's voice sounded fearfully from the doorway.

"How could he leave me?" Charlie repeated as she turned into Joey's arms and sobbed openly. A matter of seconds later Ruby joined them in their embrace and they sank to the wet ground soaked and sobbing.

"It'll be okay" Ruby said quietly through her tears after a few minutes as she dropped a soft kiss on Charlie's head "We can get through this, right?"

"Together" Charlie said hoarsely as she tightened her hold on her wife and daughter "We can get through this together..." she stood up slowly with Joey and Ruby and grasped their hands tightly before they began to walk slowly back towards the house.

"I don't really hate him..." she said guiltily, feeling the need to apologise "I was just..."

"You were upset. You needed to get what you were feeling out" Joey said quietly as she squeezed Charlie's hand gently "That's completely understandable, right Rubz?"

"Right" Ruby nodded in agreement as they stepped back into the house, shutting the door behind them.

TBC