Chapter 75
"Her stats look good" Rachel noted more to herself than to Joey or Ruby as she checked the display on Charlie's monitor "Everything's mostly regular...Or as regular as can be expected"
"If everything's normal why isn't she waking up?" Joey kept her eyes trained on Charlie as she spoke as if willing her to wake up "It's been almost two days"
"Her body needs time to heal, remember?" Rachel reminded gently as she turned to look at Joey "Don't worry. She's doing absolutely fine"
"What's going to happen?" Ruby asked softly "When she wakes up? I mean...With Grant and all?"
"I don't know" Rachel said regretfully "I'm sorry" when there was no response from either of them she motioned to the door "I'll be back later to check her stats again but if you need me..."
"Push the button" Joey finished knowingly.
"Right" Rachel nodded in confirmation before she walked out of the room, leaving silence in her wake.
"Why do you think she did it?" Ruby asked suddenly, her voice a mere whisper "Instead of arresting him?"
"I don't know" Joey admitted quietly. She finally looked up and met Ruby's eyes "I really don't know Rubz"
"I would never have thought Charlie was capable of something like that" Ruby murmured innocently as her gaze fleeted to Charlie's still features "Killing somebody"
Joey bit down on her lip to stop herself from saying what she wanted to say. Instead when she spoke she stated what she knew Ruby needed to hear "She didn't kill anyone though. Maybe she wasn't even planning to. We can't know until she wakes up"
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked quietly "You've been acting really weird for the past couple of days"
"I'm fine" Joey answered emotionlessly "Really"
"Uh-huh" Ruby nodded disbelievingly "Than why don't I believe you?"
"I don't know" Joey sighed in frustration "Look...I'm sorry Ruby. I just don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"
"Fine" Ruby muttered as she slumped back in her seat "I'll just shut up than"
"You know I didn't mean it like that" Joey responded, a hint of guilt in her voice "I'm sorry. I'm just...I need some time to think about this before I can talk about it...I need Charlie to wake up. And you're her daughter so...I can't really talk about it anyway"
"Whatever" Ruby said as she stood up, hurt clear on her expression "I'm just going to go than. Clearly you don't think you can talk to me anymore so..."
"Ruby, wait a minute" Joey finally released Charlie's hand and stood up to walk over to Ruby "You don't have to go. It's not you, I promise. It's just..." she sighed heavily and ran a hand through her hair "This is such a mess. It's all such a MESS!"
"Why won't you tell me what's wrong?" Ruby asked in a small voice "Is it because, maybe...You're thinking about leaving us?"
"No!" Joey replied instantly "No...I would never willingly leave you or Charlie. Not again. You know that I would do anything to stay with you"
"Than what is it?" Ruby persisted clearly worried about whatever Joey was hiding "Why won't you tell me?!"
"Because I don't know what's going on with me!" Joey exclaimed loudly "I just...Don't know, Okay Ruby?!"
"Right" Ruby nodded and crossed her arms defensively "I'm going to go and get some air for a while..."
"Ruby..." Joey watched in dismay as Ruby turned and left the room. She sighed and moved back over to Charlie's side taking her hand "Great..." she hesitated for a moment as she looked up at the older girl "Charlie? Charlie...You have to come back to me. I have to...I have to know why you did what you did" she kissed Charlie's hand gently as tears formed in her eyes "I need you to wake up"
---
"It seems I have the worst timing ever"
Ruby lifted her head from her hands and smiled weakly when she noticed Summer hovering unsurely next to her "Maybe you have the best time ever"
"I do?" Summer asked curiously as she took a seat next to the other teenager "You look kind of upset"
Ruby shrugged sadly "There's something wrong with Joey and she won't tell me what it is. Plus Charlie still hasn't woken up yet and I have no one to talk to about any of this..."
"You can talk to me" Summer reminded her softly "About anything you want"
"Thanks" Ruby smiled weakly "I know that...I just don't want to bother you too much"
"You don't bother me" Summer's voice dropped slightly and her gaze lowered to her hands.
"What's wrong?" Ruby asked in concern.
"Nothing...Don't worry about it" Summer looked up again and smiled rather falsely "I'm fine"
"No...You can't do this to me Sum" Ruby's expression crumbled into hurt "You can't push me away. Everybody else is doing it...Or has done it. I can't handle you doing it too"
"I don't want to upset you" Summer bit her lip guiltily.
"I'm already upset!" Ruby stated "I highly doubt you could upset me anymore"
Summer closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again and responding hesitantly "Cameron said she booked an earlier flight"
"Oh..." Ruby frowned in concern "Um...When?"
"Tomorrow morning" Summer answered softly.
"Tomo...Oh" Ruby's eyes widened in shock at the news "So you're leaving right now? Is this why you came by? To tell me you were..."
"I'm not leaving yet" Summer soothed as she noticed Ruby getting increasingly upset "I told Cameron that I'm not leaving any earlier than we agreed. I told her that if she wants to get on a plane she can get on one without me"
Ruby visibly relaxed in her chair "You kind of had me freaked out there Sum"
"I'm not leaving yet" Summer promised sincerely "We still have some more time"
"But not enough" Ruby admitted quietly "I wish you didn't have to leave at all"
"Ruby..."
"I know" Ruby sighed glumly "You have to do it because she's your sister...I get that. I just...I don't think you know how much you leaving me is going to hurt"
"I do" Summer countered as she lay her hand atop Ruby's "It's going to hurt me just as much you know"
"I know" Ruby responded before quickly changing the subject "So what are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd come and see if anything's going on" Summer answered "And...I wanted to make sure you were okay"
"I'm fine...Sort of" Ruby smiled faintly "But nothing's going on"
"I guess I'll go than" Summer announced as she stood up.
"Oh...Okay" Ruby looked slightly disappointed but nodded as she stood up anyway.
"I'll see you later" Summer hugged Ruby quickly and was about to pull away when Ruby tightened her embrace slightly "Rubz?"
"Will you promise me something?" Ruby whispered.
"What is it?" Summer asked in concern.
"Don't leave me without saying goodbye first" Ruby requested vulnerably "I couldn't take it if you just took off..."
"Of course" Summer whispered as she pulled back "I promise" she paused for a moment and looked around for any sign of Cameron "Do you want to go for a walk or something? It might take your mind off things..."
"sure" Ruby agreed quietly. She slipped her hand into Summer's and they walked towards the exit of the hospital together.
---
"Hmmn..." Joey stirred slightly from the restless sleep she had fallen into as she felt a soft squeeze to her hand "Wha..." she blinked fuzzily up and her eyes widened in shocked when she noticed blue eyes gazing back at her "Charlie!"
"Jo..." Charlie groaned painfully.
"It's okay" Joey stood up from her seat and moved closer to the bed "It's okay...I'll get Rachel" not wanting to leave her wife's bedside she leaned over and pressed the red button Rachel had instructed her to press if she needed anything "Are you okay?"
"Hurts" Charlie rasped painfully "What...Happened?"
"You were shot" Joey informed her wide eyed "Grant was arrested though...God, I'm so glad you're okay!"
"I'm sorry..." Charlie began though she trailed off painfully.
"It's okay" Joey reassured her as she dropped a soft kiss on Charlie's knuckles "Don't worry about that right now. It's okay. We'll talk about it later"
"Ruby..."
"She's fine" Joey smiled lightly "She went to get some air a while ago but...She's okay"
"Oh" Charlie nodded and slumped back against the pillow just as Rachel stormed through the door.
TBC
