I finally forced myself to watch the Charlie and Angelo getting back together episode. That counsellor should be fired! I've never heard a professional therapist spout such rot. And I don't mind admitting that I've been in therapy for a good ten years now – comes with the disability package. But seriously... worst therapist ever. Worse than the guy who said hello to her in the Diner. You don't do that! Be a little bit professional, people. And as for shoes... shoes! Are you kidding me? And if Angelo makes Charlie that happy, why did she look so depressed when she told him she wanted to be with him? Please, please, make this end! Anyway, onto my alternate storyline. Love, IJKS xx

Chapter Seven

Losing herself in Joey's eyes for a moment, Charlie realised that she was lost for words. She licked her lips and took a couple of breaths. Lowering her head, she studied Joey's hand on the table. She'd always thought she had wonderful hands. They were strong and capable, used to hard labour and yet so gentle and loving all at the same time. Fighting the urge to reach out and touch her, Charlie looked up and into her eyes again. Still she struggled to speak. Joey smiled softly.

"I promised you cake," she remembered, standing up.

Charlie exhaled, smiling gratefully at the distraction. She watched Joey stand up and fumble about with plates, cake, knives and forks. She presented a slice to Charlie. Looking down at it, the police officer made out the word 'day' and part of the word 'Joey'. She looked back at her.

"It was your birthday last week," she realised.

Joey nodded and sat down with a slice of her own.

"Happy birthday," Charlie said quietly.

They'd broken up the week before Joey had been due to turn twenty-five. Charlie had bought theatre tickets for her and booked a table at an expensive restaurant well in advance. She'd gone shopping with Ruby and bought her a charm bracelet. She'd lost the deposit on the restaurant booking for not bothering to cancel it and there had been two empty seats at the theatre. The charm bracelet remained hidden in her drawer, untouched.

"Thanks," Joey said.

"Did you have a party?"

Joey nodded.

"Just a small thing," she said. "It didn't go so well."

"What happened?" Charlie asked, concerned.

Joey shrugged and said it didn't matter.

"Okay," Charlie said. "Sorry."

"Why sorry?"

"It's not my place to ask," Charlie ventured. "I'm sorry."

"I invited you in for coffee," Joey pointed out.

"And cake," Charlie grinned, taking a bite.

"And cake," Joey chuckled. "Don't forget the cake."

Charlie smiled.

"It's good cake," she decided.

Silence fell between them as they smiled softly at each other. It felt so natural and yet so strange to be together like this.

"So..." Joey ventured.

"So," Charlie sighed.

She chewed her lip.

"I've missed you," she admitted.

Joey studied her cake.

"I've missed you too," she replied softly.

She toyed with the handle of her coffee cup and swallowed, wondering how even after all this time, Charlie still had such an effect on her. She hoped she was concealing it but her heart was pounding just looking at her across a table.

"I'm so sorry for what happened," Charlie said, her voice catching towards the end of the sentence.

Joey looked up quickly. She gazed into Charlie's face.

"Why did you do it?" she asked, hoping for an honest reply.

It was a question she had puzzled over all this time. She longed for some kind of closure.

"I was scared," Charlie said, knowing it sounded lame.

"Of what?"

"Of everything," Charlie said.

Her chest felt tight and just remembering everything that happened threatened to bring tears to her eyes.

"People kept labelling me as gay and I... I didn't even know then what I was... who I was. The only thing I knew was that I loved you but I couldn't... I couldn't handle everything that went with that."

"Then?" Joey asked curiously.

Charlie looked confused.

"You said you didn't know what you were then," Joey explained. "Does that mean you know who you are now?"

Charlie nodded and chewed her lip.

"I guess I'm bisexual," she said. "Although, you're the only woman I've ever..."

She trailed off. Thinking about their love made her heart soar just as much as it broken when she thought of how it had turned out.

"How do you feel about that?" Joey asked.

"Okay, I guess. It's not really something I've had to deal with since you..."

Charlie polished off the rest of her cake just for something else to do. She had a tiny bit of chocolate sauce on the side of her mouth when she looked back up. Without thinking, Joey reached out with her thumb to brush it away. They both blushed.

"Do you want to sit in the lounge?" she asked. "It's more comfortable there."

Charlie nodded and stood. She followed Joey back through the apartment and they sat on either end of the sofa.

"I saw you in the restaurant the other week," Joey admitted.

Charlie looked startled.

"You saw me?" she squeaked. "Why didn't you...?"

"Why didn't you?" Joey countered.

Charlie sighed and twisted her hands together.

"I didn't know what to do," she said. "You had a date."

"So did you."

Charlie sighed, thinking of Angelo.

"Have you been together long?" she asked.

"On and off since July last year," she said.

Joey nodded.

"Didn't waste much time..." she could help but comment.

"It was meant to be a one night thing," Charlie explained. "He was lost and so was I and..."

"One thing led to another..." Joey sighed, thinking of Charlie's night with Hugo.

"You were gone," Charlie said quietly. "You were gone and you weren't coming back."

"What would have happened if I had come back?" Joey asked.

She was genuinely curious. She'd been that close to returning to Summer Bay and seeing if she and Charlie still had a chance. But after three months at sea, having not healed properly from her hurt, she hadn't been ready. So she'd stayed away and attempted to move on with her life.

"When did you start seeing that girl?" Charlie asked.

"Six months ago," Joey said. "We were friends at work and we'd been through some similar things. Something just grew."

"Does she uh... does she live here with you?" Charlie asked. "Will she mind that I'm..."

"We split up," Joey told her. "On my birthday."

Charlie couldn't help but react and was saddened by how Joey's facial expression had shifted to one of sorrow. Joey chewed her lip.

"I found her in the bathroom with another friend of ours," Joey explained. "I guess I'm pretty easy to pass over for someone else."

Charlie carefully wiped her eyes, hoping Joey wouldn't notice. She did and felt sad about it.

"You've got the biggest heart I've ever known," Charlie said honestly. "The most generous soul and the most honest spirit. It's not easy to cheat on you because you're not wonderful. You are. You're too wonderful. I think it's that you don't choose people who deserve you. I never deserved you."

Joey gazed at her, searching her face and wondering how Charlie felt about her now.

"I don't know," she said. "I still subscribe to my own theory."

"I wish I could take back what happened!" Charlie blurted out.

The words and emotion surprised both of them. Joey opened her mouth to respond but held back, waiting for Charlie.

"I was such an idiot. I was so consumed with my own fears and anxieties that I never stopped to realise what I had. I shouldn't have been worried about being seen with you, Joey. I should have just been proud and honoured that someone like you saw something special in me. And I know it was too late but as soon as I... with Hugo... when I... as soon as it happened, I knew how much I loved you. I knew how much I needed you."

"I wish you'd have figured it out sooner," Joey admitted. "I wish it hadn't taken sleeping with Hugo to realise that you loved me."