Chapter Twenty-Four
When Joey awoke the next morning, she was immediately hit with a rush of memories from the night before. She felt embarrassed over the things she had said and done. Closing her eyes again, aware of Charlie curled up beside her, she wished she could take it back. Everything felt terribly foggy and confusing. She'd made a pass at Charlie and been rejected. That alone was nothing short of humiliating. Opening her eyes, she couldn't help but smile softly as she recalled the things Charlie had said to her. Turning her face to the sleeping woman beside her, her smile only grew.
"You are so amazing," she almost whispered.
Then she screamed when Charlie's eyes flashed open and said thank you before offering a wicked grin.
"You shouldn't do that!" Joey said, dramatically clutching her chest.
Charlie sat up and stretched, yawning loudly.
"Do what?" she asked innocently.
"Pretend you're asleep," Joey said, also sitting up and folding her arms grumpily.
Charlie leant in and touching her pouting lips.
"It wouldn't matter if you weren't going to be all cute when you think I'm asleep," she said.
Joey blushed.
"Are you saying I'm not cute when you're awake?" she asked cheekily.
Charlie reached out and affectionately stroked her face.
"You're cute all of the time," she assured her.
Joey smiled. She pressed her lips against the palm that was still cupping her face.
"I still feel the same by the way," Joey said, gazing into Charlie's eyes.
The police officer looked a little startled but she smiled.
"Can I take you out on a date then please?" she asked.
Joey held her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"I would love to go on a date with you, Charlie," she said.
Charlie beamed at her.
"When? Now? No, not now. It's first thing in the morning. How about tonight? Or lunch? We could do lunch! Or, wait, I know! A day trip! We could spend the whole day together," she rambled excitedly, making Joey laugh.
"A day together sounds pretty much perfect to me," she said. "And for now..."
Steeling herself to take a risk, she leant in and pressed her lips gently against Charlie's. Charlie returned the kiss, letting it linger for as long as possible before taking a risk of her own. She slowly parted her lips and was pleased when Joey did the same. Their tongues touched ever so tentatively. They wrapped their arms more tightly around each other, pulling each other in closely. Parting slowly and reluctantly, they gazed at each other, smiling shyly. Joey reached out and ran her hand through Charlie's hair.
"Was that okay?" she asked.
"That was the best start to a date I've ever had," Charlie replied.
She leant closer and kissed her again.
Angelo felt sick as he sat himself in front of Ken and a panel of higher powers in the police force. It was bright and early but he felt utterly miserable and afraid.
"I'll get to the point quickly," Ken said.
He shuffled the papers in front of him and cleared his throat. Angelo watched his every move.
"I'm afraid we're going to have to let you go, Sergeant Rosetta."
Angelo just stared. His head began to swim as he wondered how this could happen.
"On what grounds?" he finally managed to squeak.
"On the grounds of repeatedly flouting the rules and putting the reputation of this station in jeopardy."
"I haven't..."
"In the course of your investigation into Hugo Austin's involvement in the human trafficking gang, you behaved badly," he said. "You assaulted him. You got yourself suspended. You put yourself, your colleague and an innocent bystander in danger."
"How?" Angelo demanded.
"You were suspended," Ken repeated. "If you hadn't punched Mr Austin then Charlie would never have gone after him herself without back up. She was nearly killed. And while you may have escaped with Martha Holden eventually, you nearly got both of you killed through pure foolishness. Re-reading these reports, it looks like she saved your life instead of the other way around."
"Foolishness?"
"If you accost someone, even a civilian who's watched a good horror movie knows to take their weapon and apprehend them somehow," Ken said. "To be honest, I have no idea how you made Sergeant after the mess you made of that investigation!"
Angelo clenched his jaw and glared at him, tensing his hands. All he wanted to do was launch himself over the desk and show his boss exactly what he thought of him.
Having just about managed to get up and dressed and out of the house. Charlie had opted to take Joey to a country park for the day where they could chat, sunbathe, play about in the trees, mess around in an adventure playground that was technically meant for kids and get some lunch. Joey had also convinced her that ice cream was a necessity. Leaving the car, they walked hand in hand through the large gate and on through the park. There were various trails they could follow and both women were desperately looking forward to their day together. Charlie was anxious, in case it went wrong somehow and after everything, Joey would change her mind and not want to be with her. And Joey was nervous also, in case Charlie suddenly didn't think she was worth it anymore. Smiling to reassure themselves more than each other, they squeezed each other's hands and continued on their walk.
"And now for this Charlie debacle," Ken continued gravely.
Angelo slumped back in his chair and sighed heavily. He closed his eyes and tried not to lose his temper.
"At what point did you think it was acceptable to befriend Charlie's therapist to get some kind of dirt on her?" he asked.
"I thought she was seeing another guy!" Angelo said. "I didn't know she was having counselling."
"And that makes it okay?" Ken asked.
"Have you ever been in love, Sir?" Angelo wanted to know.
The older man looked a little startled. He shuffled his papers and then turned back to the Sergeant.
"I've been in love with my wife for a very long time," he said.
"And if you lost her? Wouldn't you to try to win her back through any means necessary?"
Ken sighed.
"I know you love her, Angelo," he said.
"Not anymore," the younger man snapped bitterly.
"But that doesn't make it okay," Ken told him, not losing his stride.
Angelo sighed loudly and sat forward in his chair.
"Has she really complained about this?" he asked. "Because I thought she forgave me."
"Well, grouped with climbing up a tree to spy on her..."
"She forgave me for that too!" Angelo insisted. "We dated after that! She took me back! The only reason she dumped me again was because of that bitch coming back into her life!"
Ken fixed him with a stony stared. Angelo cringed, knowing that he wasn't doing himself any favours.
Charlie and Joey retained hold of each other's hands as they walked through the woods together, amid the sunshine that just about managed to peep through the trees. Joey leant in closer and rested her head on Charlie's shoulder. Charlie put her arm around her waist.
"Ooh, look!" the police officer said, pointing through the trees ahead of him.
Joey looked and could just make out a small island surrounded by water. Simultaneously, they jogged over to it.
"How do we get across?" Joey wondered.
They both looked around, eager to get to the island that was small, solitary and serene.
"There!" Charlie announced.
Joey grinned when she spotted the rope swing that Charlie was looking at. They headed over but Charlie looked particularly uncertain.
"I don't want to go over to the island that much," the police officer objected.
"Oh, come on," Joey teased. "Don't be a baby!"
"I'm not a baby!" Charlie insisted.
Joey took the fragile looking piece of wood hooked through a loop in the rope, took hold of it and swung across to the island. She landed somewhat clumsily and fell to her knees. Charlie worried but Joey stood and turned triumphantly.
"See?" she said cheerfully. "Come on over!"
Charlie hesitated. Joey swung the rope back to her. She caught it but remained still.
"Why don't you go and explore and tell me all about it?" she suggested.
Joey pursed her lips, wondering how she might convince her. She looked around and then looked back at her date. Grinning wickedly, she pulled her t-shirt off. Charlie's eyes widened as she watched Joey begin to undress. Without a second thought, she launched herself over to the island, landed, slid down the hill, got her feet wet from the water, ignored it and scrambled back up to Joey's waiting arms. The younger girl giggled as she kissed her.
"Your shoes are soaked," she pointed out.
Charlie shrugged and kicked them off.
"They'll dry," she said.
Joey leant in and kissed her, very aware of Charlie's close proximity.
"Do you want to explore the island?" Joey asked.
Charlie cast their surroundings a brief glance.
"It's pretty," she said dismissively, leaning in to kiss her again.
Joey leant back on the ground, pulling Charlie closer and whispering that she loved her.
"Let's talk about last week," Ken suggested. "What happened?"
Angelo sighed.
"We just had an argument," he said. "It wasn't a big deal."
"An argument that ended up with a desk being flipped over, several bruises to your ex-girlfriend and a broken laptop that we now have to pay to fix."
"I'll pay!" Angelo offered. "I'll fix the laptop. Whatever you want. Just... please, Sir. This job means so much to me. Please don't take it away."
Ken stared at him incredulously.
"Sergeant Rosetta," he said. "Quite frankly, you're lucky Charlie isn't requesting that I arrest you for assault. Because I will. In a heartbeat."
Angelo looked crestfallen.
"You are not fit to be a police officer," Ken continued. "In my opinion, you're not even fit to be a free man. But right now, there isn't a whole lot I can do about that. Hand your badge and your uniform over, Constable Watson will escort you to take your personal belongings with you and then I don't want to see your face again. You're fired, Angelo. Get the hell out of my station."
Charlie and Joey had been lying in each other's arms, kissing for a long while. Charlie had refused to let Joey put her top back on and had frequently let her hands wander.
"We've gone from taking things very slowly to very quickly!" Joey commented.
Charlie drew back, looking worried.
"Is that okay?" she asked. "I'm not overstepping..."
Joey's smile interrupted and reassured her.
"You're not overstepping anything," Joey said. "I don't think I've ever been happier than I am right at this moment, Charlie."
She leant in for more kisses.