Hey guys thanks for the reviews! They're all really appreciated as always! Here's the next chapter...Extra dramatic! Though I was in a kind of hurry when I wrote it so...Oh and I'm sorry for the major cliff-hanger at the end (You'll see when you get there). Definitely the meanest cliff-hanger I've ever written, I'm sure, But hey you guys trust me with this, right? Don't worry tooo much :D
Chapter 73
"What was that?!" Ruby asked frantically as she watched Joey staring vacantly at the phone "That sounded like a gunshot! Joey?!" when Joey offered no answer she turned to Summer wide eyed.
"She shot him..." Joey whispered as she allowed the phone to slide from her grasp. She stumbled back onto the couch looking pale.
"Shot who?" Summer asked looking confused "Grant?"
Ruby nodded unsteadily "Y...Yeah. I don't understand what was going on but...Charlie was talking about getting rid of him and t...there was a gunshot"
"Oh" Summer's eyes widened in shock "But...But Charlie wouldn't...I mean she's not..."
"Joey!" Ruby pleaded as she sank down on the couch next to the older girl "Joey! What do we do? Tell me what do..."
At the panicked tone of Ruby's voice Joey managed to snap out her shocked daze and turned her gaze to meet the teenagers "Ruby..."
"Joey, she shot him!" Ruby exclaimed tearfully as she clung tightly to Joey's hand "She shot him! What...What are we supposed to do now?"
Joey swallowed heavily as she realised both Ruby and Summer were counting on her to know what to do "Just...Just give me a minute Rubz" she stood up and began pacing stressfully despite the fact that she was shaking from head to foot "Um..." she chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a moment hard enough to draw blood.
"Joey?" Ruby questioned shakily.
"Okay" Joey took a deep breath and looked at the teenagers "You two stay here. I'll call Leah to stay with you."
"Where are you going?!" Ruby asked in concern.
"I'm going to find Charlie" Joey answered quietly attempting to keep her rising emotions in check "I know where she is..."
"No!" Ruby stated instantly. She moved forward and grabbed Joey's arm in an almost painful grip "You can't go out there alone Joey...It's too dangerous!"
"I...Cameron will come with me" Joey reassured her numbly "I'll be fine Ruby. I promise. I just...I need to find out what happened..."
"You can't go!" Ruby shook her head adamantly as tears spilled down her cheeks "You...You can't leave me!"
"You'll be fine" Joey promised unsteadily as she pulled the shaky girl into a brief hug "You'll look after her right Summer?" she looked up and met Summer's gaze pleadingly.
"Of course I will" Summer nodded sincerely despite her own scared expression "I won't let anything happen to her...I promise"
Joey nodded at her and looked back at Ruby "Ruby? Honey you need to let me go..."
Ruby hung on tightly for a moment before she reluctantly relinquished her tight grip and stepped back to stand shakily at Summer's side.
"I'll...I'll phone Leah" Joey said shakily "Tell where having some kind of emergency without telling her any details...She'll only want to phone the police...Yeah..." Mumbling to herself Joey turned around and began to make the call.
Ruby released a breath and looked down at her own shaking hands. She clenched her fists in an attempt to still them but found that it didn't work. She reluctantly loosened them her fingertips brushing against Summer's as she did so. Summer looked down at the contact and paused for a moment before slipping her hand into the younger girls. She breathed a sigh of relief when Ruby tightened the light grip almost instantly.
"Right..."
Ruby and Joey looked up to see Joey nodding to herself.
"I'm going to go...Cameron's at the station as usual so I have to head there first" Joey told them quietly "Leah should be here soon" she moved forward and hugged them briefly "Don't worry...Everything's going to be fine" she pulled away and motioned toward the front door "I'm going to lock the door on my way out"
"What's the point?" Ruby questioned unsteadily "Grant's dead"
"I'll call soon" Joey promised before she practically sprinted out of the room.
"She killed him" Ruby whispered almost to herself as she turned to look at Summer with tears forming once again in her eyes. Unable to comprehend the possibility of what Charlie had done Summer merely pulled Ruby into her arms.
---
"You still haven't told me where we're going" Cameron complained as Joey drove quickly out of Summer bay "And you're driving like a crazy person!"
"We're going to the house where Grant was keeping Ruby and Summer" Joey explained hurriedly.
""Why?" Cameron frowned in confusion "I don't understand why you're so panicked about this...And what were you saying about Charlie?"
"I think she's done something stupid" Joey answered as she tightened her grip on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white because of the pressure "Really stupid"
"Are you going to elaborate...?"
"I think she's shot Grant" Joey spoke softly as if further volume would make the words true "I...I heard her. On the phone"
"Seriously?" Cameron asked in shock "No way...Charlie wouldn't do that"
"I wouldn't usually think so" Joey glanced briefly at Cameron before looking back at the road she was currently speeding down "But I heard her saying she was going to get rid of him and there was...A gunshot!"
"Shit" Cameron swore softly as she sank back into her seat "Step on it...We're not far away"
Joey nodded and pressed her foot to the accelerator.
---
"You're crazy" Grant coughed as he watched Charlie drinking from the bottle of whiskey "YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY!"
"Maybe" Charlie shrugged as she switched the gun from hand to hand "At least I didn't shoot you yet though, right?"
"You missed" Grant corrected "there's a difference between that and choosing not to"
"I didn't miss" Charlie said coldly "I never miss. In case you didn't notice I had the gun pointed directly at your head. I chose to shoot the phone next to your foot instead"
"Let me go!" Grant demanded as he struggled against his bounds "I swear to God when I get out of this chair I'm going to fucking kill you!"
"If you get out of the chair" Charlie stood up from the ground and swayed slightly "There's really no guarantee that you will"
"LET ME GO!" Grant yelled furiously "Let me go right now! This is illegal you know..."
"That didn't bother you when you kept Ruby and Summer here" Charlie countered coming to a stop in front of him "So why should it bother me? Especially after everything you've done. I would be doing everyone a favour by getting rid of you"
Grant groaned heavily and slumped into the chair defeated. His eyes widened in surprise when he noticed the tape around his wrists had loosened slightly due to his persistent struggling. To cover up he quickly looked back at Charlie "Well? Are you going to do it or what?"
"Do it?" Charlie echoed "You actually want me to shoot you?"
"You won't do it" Grant smirked "You couldn't before and you had every opportunity didn't you Charlie?"
"Shut up" Charlie muttered agitatedly.
"You'll never be able to protect them properly" Grant smirked at her "You know you won't... I mean look at Ruby...I could have done anything I wanted to her when she was here and you could do nothing about it. You..."
"Shut up!" Charlie commanded loudly as she lifted her weapon again and pressed it against his forehead. Grant stiffened realising he had pushed her too far "Just SHUT..." Charlie was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming open.
"Looks like you're out of time..." Grant sighed in relief just as Joey and Cameron ran through the doorway. The two newcomers slid to an immediate stop at the sight in front of them.
"Charlie?" Joey whispered as she stepped forward "Charlie, put the gun down"
Charlie spared a glance at Joey before she turned her gaze back to Grant "I can't do that"
"You don't want to do this" Joey said quietly "This isn't you Charlie...Just put the gun down, okay?"
Charlie shook her head adamantly "This is the only way..."
"No!" Joey exclaimed as Charlie flexed her finger on the trigger "No, It's not. Just...Think about what you're doing for a minute. Think about the consequences...If you shoot him you'll be locked up" when Charlie remained silent Joey tentatively placed a hand on the older girl's shaking arm "What would Ruby do without you Charlie? What...What would I do without you? Please put the gun down..."
Charlie appeared torn for a minute before she finally allowed the gun to drop from her hand. It hit the floor and Charlie quickly turned into Joey's arms.
"I'm sorry" she murmured tearfully "I don't know what I was thinking...I didn't mean to..."
"its okay" Joey soothed as she pulled back and gently wiped Charlie's tears away with her fingertips "It's..."
"Look out!"
Unseen by them Grant had managed to escape his loose bounds and hand lunged toward the gun on the floor. Charlie watched as if in slow motion as he picked it up and pointed at them. She quickly stepped in front of Joey just as Grant pulled the trigger.
BANG
BANG
Two loud gunshots sounded as both Grant and Cameron fired at the same time.
"Charlie?!" Joey called hoarsely as she shifted out from behind Charlie. Her eyes widened in alarm when she noticed the red stain covering Charlie's chest "CHARLIE!" she reached out and caught her girlfriend as she fell forwards and lowered her gently to the ground "CAMERON!"
Cameron looked up from where she had been handcuffing a wounded Grant and paled slightly at the sight that met her eyes. She hurriedly jumped to her feet and raced over to them.
"She was shot" Joey said tearfully as she focused on applying pressure to the wound "Charlie? Charlie stay with me..."
"Joey..." Charlie murmured drowsily.
"I'm right here" Joey reassured her as she caught Charlie's hand with her own "I'm not going anywhere...Just hang on" she looked up at Cameron "What do we do? We need an ambulance or something!"
"There's no hospital for miles" Cameron said more to herself than Joey "We'll have to drive..."
"That's ridiculous!" Joey exclaimed through her tears "By the time we get there she could be..."
"I know!" Cameron interrupted her "But it's the best thing to do for her Joey"
Joey hesitated for a moment as she looked down at her rapidly weakening wife before reluctantly agreeing.
---
"Joey!" Ruby called as she raced down the hospital corridor with Summer hot on her heels. She rushed into Joey's half hearted embrace and stayed there for a moment before pulling back "You're okay...Where's Charlie? Is she...Why have you got blood on your hands?! Oh My God...Did she shoot him? Is she in Jail right now? Can we se..."
"Ruby!" Joey interrupted the teenager's worried questions "Ruby...I have to tell you something"
"Wha...What is it?" Ruby only just noticed the tears trailing from Joey's eyes "Joey? You're really worrying me..."
"Charlie...She was shot" Joey spoke through her tears "Grant shot her"
"No" Ruby shook her head as if she could make Joey take the statement "No...Charlie's not...She's fine!"
"She's not" Joey shook her head tearfully "She's in surgery right now Rubz. They don't know if she'll..."
"Don't say it!" Ruby practically yelled as she stepped back tears clouding her vision "She...She can't be. She's FINE!"
"Ruby..." Joey started pleadingly as she reached out for the younger girl.
"No!" Ruby pulled away again and sank into a chair her tears falling quickly "It's not...It's not true!"
Joey watched helplessly as she found herself unable to offer any comfort to the girl she considered a daughter. She turned away as sobs threatened to overwhelm her.
Summer, on the verge of tears herself stepped away from Cameron and sank onto a set next to her best friend when she noticed Joey was unable to do anything "Ruby..."
Ruby looked up tearfully and threw herself gratefully into Summer's open arms.
"its okay" she soothed quietly as she ran a hand lightly over the younger girl's hair "Charlie's going to be fine...You'll see"
Ruby didn't reply and they fell into silence apart from the occasional sob. After about half an hour Ruby's tears had dried up and she now lay numbly across the seats with her head on Summer's lap while Joey paced aimlessly.
"Joey!" a voice sounded suddenly causing Joey and Ruby to look up. When she noticed it was Rachel Ruby jumped to her feet and stood at Joey's side.
"Rachel" Joey responded "is she okay? What's going on Please tell me she's going to be okay?"
"She's stable" Rachel said trying to remain calm despite the situation "The bullet missed her heart by a couple of inches so we managed to stabilise her and remove the bullet"
"Can we see her?" Ruby asked hopefully.
"Of course" Rachel nodded.
"We'll wait here" Cameron offered gently.
Ruby and Joey nodded and Ruby offered Summer a small smile as they left. They came to a stop when they finally reached the door to Charlie's room.
"There's a call button if anything happens" Rachel advised them quietly "But I should be around here somewhere anyway, okay?"
Joey nodded numbly "Thanks Rachel"
Rachel nodded and flashed a sad smiled before she turned and walked away. Joey and Ruby entered the room and had to fight to suppress tears at the sight of Charlie attached to machines again.
"Do you think she'll be okay?" Ruby asked quietly as she took Charlie's hand in both of her own.
"I hope so Rubz" Joey murmured quietly. They fell into silence for a couple of minutes apart from the steady beeping from Charlie's machine. Having been concentrating on the sound Joey noticed immediately when it started to become irregular and she looked up sharply in alarm to see Charlie's stats dropping. She was about to reach for the nurses button when the monitor completely changed its tone to a constant piercing sound.
"Charlie?!" Ruby exclaimed in alarm just before Rachel rushed through the door with a team of doctors and she was moved out of the way by the bustle. She soon found herself standing by the door with Joey.
"Code Blue!" Rachel yelled springing everyone into action.
"Charging 200!" she yelled as she grabbed the paddles of the defibrillator and pressed them to Charlie's chest.
Ruby quickly looked away as tears filled her eyes.
"Charging 250!"
Joey blinked rapidly to hold back her tears as she held onto Ruby tightly.
"Charging 300!"
"Rachel..." a voice said quietly "I think it's time..."
"No!" Rachel shook her head and glanced over at a sobbing Joey and Ruby before she returned to her work.
"Charging 350!"
"Clear!"
The electric snapping sound filled the room and Ruby turned fully into Joey's embrace, sobbing painfully.
"Charging 400!"
"Rachel..." a doctor shook his head sadly "Call it"
Rachel fought back tears as she looked over at Joey and Ruby who were gazing at her in tearful disbelief.
"Time of..."
TBC
