Angelo corners Watson in the tearoom the next morning.
"Shouldn't you be out on patrol Angelo?"
"I want to talk to you first."
"Can't it wait, I'm busy."
"No it can't wait," Angelo says as he walks right up to her. "What the fuck is wrong with your sister?"
"I am not going to discuss my sister with you Angelo."
"She's trying to fuck up my chances for promotion."
"I think you can manage that on your own."
Fuming at her words, Angelo tries to stay calm. "Watson, I know we're not best buddies but you and Charlie are; do you think she'd appreciate it if your sister arrested me?"
"What exactly do you expect me to do Angelo?"
"Talk to your sister, get her to look elsewhere."
"Just because we're sisters, that doesn't mean she'll listen to me and in case you haven't noticed, she's a Det. Sergeant, which means she outranks both of us."
"How the hell did she get to be a Sergeant before you?"
"There's not exactly a lot of openings for uniform Sergeants, especially here and Joey also happens to be very good at her job."
"That's bullshit. She suspects me and she suspected Charlie which tells me she doesn't know shit about how to do her job."
Watson shakes her, amazed at his attitude. "You know what Angelo, if you're innocent, you have nothing to worry about."
"What do you mean if I'm innocent? Of course I fucking am!"
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
"You think I'm guilty, don't you?"
"Let's just say that if you're arrested, I wouldn't be surprised."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly what you think it means."
"You bitch."
"Watch your attitude Angelo, I am still your superior officer and the fact that you're still only a Constable after all this time should tell you something."
"Yeah, it means that I don't kiss arse and sleep my way to the top."
"I'm a Snr Constable because I worked damn hard, I kept my nose clean and I didn't fuck up. Jack's dead because you were too stupid to check your target before you fired, you lack instincts for the job and you make mistakes because you're too arrogant to accept advice from more experienced officers."
"I know how to do my job."
Watson's disgusted by his stubborn refusal to accept his faults. "Then why don't you go and do your job; just try not to fuck it up again."
"Screw you Watson, I don't need you to tell me how to do my job."
"One more word Constable, and you're on report."
"I'm sick of dykes like you thinking they're better than me."
"Just because I turned you down Angelo, doesn't make me a dyke and you see this," pointing to the rank on her uniform, "This says I am better than you. You're already under investigation for murder Angelo, don't add a charge of insubordination to it."
Angelo takes a deep breath to cool his anger at her. "You're right, I'm sorry, it's not your fault. I'm just under a lot of stress at the moment."
"That's no excuse for your behaviour."
Biting his tongue to stop his sarcastic reply, Angelo nods his head. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Angelo grins at her, "But you are gay, right?"
"Fuck off Angelo."
"Yeah, I knew it. You're a stupid, disgusting dyke."
Watson finally loses it with him. "And you're an overbearing, sexist prick and the sooner Charlie sees you for the scum you are the better."
"Charlie loves me and there's nothing you can do that will make her stop loving me."
"Which is the only reason I've never told her about all the passes you've made at me or the fact that you're fucking anything with a pulse. Jesus Angelo, while Charlie was out there waiting for you, you were fucking some bimbo in the loos; what if it had been Charlie who had walked in and not me?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Please Angelo, I need it," Watson mimics the voice of the woman she had heard, making no mention that she thought it was Martha. "I don't know about you Angelo, but that's really not want I need to hear when I go to the toilet. I had to actually leave the room and wait."
"It could have been another Angelo."
"Even you're not that stupid."
"So what if it was me, at least she's someone who appreciates a good fucking, something you're in desperate need of by the sound of your jealousy."
"Oh please. Keep going the way you are Angelo and Charlie will eventually catch on to you."
Angelo steps right up into her face. "Charlie had better not find out or I'll know who to come looking for."
"Why don't you go and bully a five year old Angelo, that's more your style isn't, picking on someone weaker than you, because if you come after me, you'll find out what it's like to have your balls kicked so hard you'll be spitting them out." Staring him down, Angelo eventually back off. "No more warnings Angelo, get back to work, try to act like a cop or you'll be on report and then you can kiss even the dream of a promotion goodbye."
Muttering about dykes and women, Angelo leaves. As soon as he's out of the room, Watson let's out the breath she had been holding.
"Go Georgie."
"Jesus Joey, don't sneak up like that." Watson says, her hand over her heart which was still racing from her encounter with Angelo.
"I'll wear a bell next time. You sure did piss him off."
"I've obviously been around you too long."
Joey grins at her, "He'll be spitting out his balls?"
"It just came to me."
"You should have offered him a demonstration."
"Believe me, I was tempted. I gotta get back to work."
"Watch yourself around him Georgie."
"I always do."
With the stifling presence of her father now gone, Charlie has other problems on her mind, or more to the point, she has someone on her mind. While she hadn't been able to completely avoid the detective since that night, for the last few days she had managed to avoid speaking to her alone but that had done little to ease her confusion. Despite her best attempts, she hadn't been able to keep her from interloping into her thoughts or to prevent her own eyes drifting towards her whenever she walked past. Sex had become enjoyable again but for the wrong reasons and now she was trying to find ways to avoid it without pissing Angelo off.
Distracted once again as she thinks back to that day, how different she had been with her, first in her office, then on the pier, closing her eyes as she remembered the way she had held her at the Surf Club, the sensations which she evoked with just a touch were so strange to Charlie, yet also so thrilling and incredibly terrifying.
"Mum. Mum," Ruby tugs on her arm. "Mum."
"What!" Charlie is finally dragged back to the present, smiling apologetically at Ruby. "Sorry, I was out of it."
"Must have been a very interesting daydream," Ruby smirks at her.
"Oh?"
"You had this little smile on your face the whole time; sort of pensive to start with and then you got all dreamy at the end."
A little embarrassed to have been so obvious, Charlie tells Ruby she was only thinking of her wedding.
"Oh, right, that."
"Ruby, I know you're not entirely happy about this wedding."
"I just think you can do better than Angelo."
"Ruby, it's not just Angelo, you've always had problems with the guys I've been with."
"Because none of them have ever really made you happy mum."
"Of course they did."
"You smiled and you told them that you loved them, but your eyes said something different."
"I don't know what you mean."
"You smile but your eyes are sad." Charlie looks at her daughter as if for the first time. "Except for the other night; that was the first time in a long time in which I saw the light back in your eyes and I don't think it was just because you stood up to granddad."
"That's because I'm in love and I'm getting married, Ruby. This is every woman's dream, to find a great guy and settle down."
"Unless you're a lesbian." Charlie looks at Ruby in utter shock. "Chill mum, all I meant was, that a lesbian wouldn't be dreaming of finding a great guy and settling down."
"Right," Charlie smiles nervously.
"Mum, can you look me in the eye and tell me that Angelo is the love of your life, that you want more than anything to marry him and have his babies?"
Charlie once again looks at her daughter in shock, knowing she had no way of answering without lying to not only Ruby but also herself. "Well mum, can you?"
Charlie is saved from answering when she notices her daughter staring over her shoulder.
"Ah mum, I think there's about to be a murder."
Glancing over her shoulder, Charlie sighs when she sees Joey and Colleen engaged in a standoff, with Colleen looking all too smug and the detective looking ready to strangle her.
"What about water, or are you out of that too?" Joey asks sarcastically
"Colleen, is there a problem," Charlie asks from behind Joey.
"No Sergeant Buckton, I was just telling the detective that..."
"That you'll be getting her whatever she wants," her tone leaving no room for argument.
"Of course," Colleen says, looking very much like she had just sucked on a lemon. "What would you like Detective?"
"OJ and a chicken salad roll," feeling Charlie's eyes on her, she adds, "please. Thanks Sergeant, you didn't have to do that." With her full attention on Charlie as she waits for her order, Charlie finds herself growing increasingly uncomfortable under her gaze. "Detective, I don't really like you, I doubt that I ever will, but while you are in the Bay, you deserve to be treated with the same respect as every other cop by the community, whether you deserve it or not."
A little surprised by the harsh tone and words, Joey is about to reply in kind when she notices the Sergeant's regretful expression. "I don't know what it is about you Detective, but you seem to bring out the worst in me," she says by way of explanation.
Joey breaks out into a cheeky grin, "I do tend to have that effect on people."
Charlie shakes her head, smiling back at her before she even realises it. "You really are the most frustrating and confusing woman I've ever met."
"Why thank you," her eyes sparkling with mischief.
"Why don't you join my daughter and I at our table," Charlie asks, surprising them both.
"Ah, sure," Joey agrees, before seeing a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye, "On second thoughts, I'd actually like to be able to stomach my meal."
Wounded by the sudden rejection, Charlie reacts angrily, "You know what, I don't even know why I bothered to waste my time with such an ill-mannered and thoroughly unlikeable woman as you." Heading back to her table, Charlie is halfway there before she even notices Angelo sitting next to Ruby, swearing softly to herself when she realises why the detective had changed her mind and feeling regretful yet again for her words.
Joey takes a seat alone on a nearby table, watching as Angelo kisses Charlie as if they were alone, noting with interest the scowl on Ruby's face as she glares at them. Joey chuckles softly, recognising the familiar look of someone who was less than impressed with the wonderful Angelo Rosetta. With some annoyance, Joey watches as Colleen takes Angelo's order to his table, gushing over what a lovely, young man he is. "I really hate that old bat," she mutters to herself as she notices her order sitting on the counter. Continuing to mutter curses at the old bat, Joey heads over to get her order.
"Angelo, I didn't think you could join us."
"What, miss lunch with my two favourite girls?" his words earning a scathing look from Ruby.
"Mum, I'm going back to school."
"You haven't finished Ruby."
"I'm not really hungry all of a sudden."
"Ok, well I'll see you at home later."
"Bye mum," muttering Angelo's name as an afterthought. Wanting to get away as quickly as possible, Ruby runs straight into the detective, sending her drink all over her.
"Fuck!"
"Oh god, I'm so sorry," Ruby says mortified.
"Great, the first drink I actually get in this dump and I don't even get to drink it."
"She said she was sorry," Charlie comes to her daughter's defence.
"Did I say she wasn't?"
"If you think this place is such a dump, then in future, perhaps you'd enjoy going elsewhere." Ruby watches the face-off between the two women, wondering why her mother was being so touchy and aggressive.
"There's this great little place you might enjoy about 200 kms from here," Angelo jokes, putting his arm around Charlie's waist as he tries to stare Joey down.
"You think you're funny, don't you Rosetta?" Her confidence and refusal to back down infuriating Angelo, much to Ruby's delight as she watches forgotten from the sidelines.
"It must be nice to still be able to joke after murdering someone," her words sounding loud in the silence that had descended in the diner.
"Nobody's interested in your lies Detective; everyone here knows me and they know I'm incapable of murder," Angelo manages to keep his tone even, despite his anger.
"I'm surprised you don't choke on the words, Rosetta," provoking another flash of anger in his eyes. "You already killed one fellow officer, is it really so hard to believe you'd be suspected when another officer is murdered?" Joey raising her voice, just to be sure everyone heard.
"That's enough Detective," Charlie steps forward. "Angelo was cleared of any wrong doing in Jack's death, just as he will be with Trevor's."
"If you all think he's so wonderful, why did he lie about what happened the night he murdered," Joey pauses for the effect, "sorry, accidentally shot dead Jack, a man who you all called a friend? He shot his friend, left him there and then he denied that he was even there that night. Is that the actions of an innocent man?" Joey leaves the question hanging as she turns and walks out of the diner.
"That fucking whore," Angelo blurts out loudly, earning him a few disapproving stares from the other customers.
"Angelo," Charlie admonishes him, before noticing her daughter was still there. "Ruby, weren't you going to school?"
"Sorry mum, I was just enj," Ruby catches herself, "leaving." With her back to them, Ruby lets the smile come to her lips, once again admiring the detective for the way she stands up to people, even more for making Angelo look like an idiot.
"She had no right to say that Charlie," Angelo sulks. Charlie links her arm through his, leading him out of the diner and away from prying eyes and ears.
"Everyone knows that Jack's death was an accident, so who cares what she says, because no one will be listening," Charlie tries to reassure him.
"She shouldn't be allowed to say it Charlie. It's hard enough living with my mistake without her rubbing my nose in it all the time."
"I'm going to be calling her supervisor about her attitude; she's gone too far."
"You'd do that?"
"Of course I would, just like I'd do for any officer who I thought was being unfairly persecuted."
Hiding his disappointment at her for not telling him she was doing it out of love for him, Angelo puts his hands on her hips. "Maybe we should stop at home on the way back to work."
"We've already wasted enough time with the detective, we have to be getting back to work."
"Charlie, is everything ok between us?"
"Of course it is Angelo."
"You haven't told me that you love me since that night at the Surf Club."
"Of course I love you Angelo, now come on, I have a phone call to make."
Later that afternoon, Joey is in her office, her hand squeezing the phone hard in anger. "No sir...(listening)...well she's hardly unbiased sir...(listening)...yes sir, I'll keep you informed." Slamming the phone down hard, Joey seethes, her anger getting the better of her as she stalks from her office, crashing into Angelo loitering right outside her door.
"Have an interesting call, Detective," smiling smugly at her.
"You always get your girlfriend or her father to fight your battles for you, Rosey," throwing the name at him to the desired effect.
"Fuck you Collins."
"No thank you, I'd rather be celibate." Letting her eyes roam up and down, "I get the feeling you wouldn't measure up anyway, Constable, now get out of my way."
Angelo steps back, allowing her to pass, whispering to himself, "I'll get you Collins."
Without even knocking, Joey barges into Charlie's office. "Sergeant, a word."
"I see your manners have deserted you again."
"Complaining to my superior? Really Sergeant, I thought better of you."
"I refuse to stand aside any longer while you treat my officers with such disrespect."
"Oh please, this is all about your fiancé hurt feelings."
"He is an officer at this station."
"No, he is the man you're fucking and he knows all he has to do is to play the victim and you'll jump in to defend him."
"You're out of line."
"No, you are. You will not interfere in this investigation Sergeant, not unless you want to find yourself under scrutiny again."
"Investigation!" Charlie leans on her desk, glaring at her, "This isn't an investigation, it's a witch hunt."
Leaning forward, her face inches from Charlie's, "Stay out of my way Buckton, I'm taking lover-boy down; whether you go down with him is up to you, but he will go down."
"What is your problem with Angelo?"
"How long have you got?" comes her smart reply.
"Get out of my office right now!"
"What did it take Sergeant, to get you into his bed? A few tears, a few fake regrets, or was it just the thought of fucking the man who killed your friend too much to..." Joey rubs her cheek, surprised at the sting from Charlie's slap.
"You really are a heartless bitch, now get the fuck out of my office."
"I'm not finished."
"Joey, that's enough." Neither had heard Watson's entry.
"Stay out of it Georgie," Joey warns her sister, never taking her eyes off Charlie.
"No. Joey you're my sister and Charlie is my friend; I refuse to watch you two behaving like a couple of spiteful school girls."
"You're out of line Georgie."
"What are you going to do Joey, put me on report?"
"Don't tempt me."
"Joey, think for a moment."
"Get out Georgie."
"Georgina, I think it's best you left," Charlie interrupts, hating to see the two sisters in conflict.
Watson hesitates, glaring at her sister. "Five minutes; if you're still in here, I'm coming in here and dragging you out by the scruff of your neck."
"Makes me feel better knowing you're a bitch to everyone, even family," Charlie says as soon as Watson had closed the door. "I'm sorry for slapping you; that was unprofessional."
"It makes me wonder how far you really would go to protect him."
"You just don't ease up do you?"
"I'm here to find out who murdered a fellow officer; I thought that I would have received a little more help than I have."
"No one wants to help you put away an innocent man."
"Your fiancé is far from innocent, Sergeant, now stay out of my fucking way or I will have you removed for interfering in this case, is that clear?" Charlie stares at her, shocked by her anger. "Is that clear, Sergeant?"
"Yes."
Joey relaxes her stance a little, "Sergeant, be honest with me; if it was anyone other than Rosetta, would you have called my superior officer?"
Charlie sits back in her seat, "I honestly don't know."
"I know this isn't easy for you Sergeant, but I meant what I said; if you can't keep your distance from this case and maintain your professionalism in regards to Rosetta at work, then I will have you removed."
Charlie closes her eyes, hating to see the disappointment in the detective's eyes, hating even more that she was probably right. "I'm not making any promises Detective, because I think it's fairly obvious we're going to be butting heads on this, but I will try to keep my distance, unless I see more of the behaviour at the diner."
"Fine, I'll only call him a murderer in private, if it'll make you feel better." Charlie coughs to cover her sudden laughter. "You know Sergeant, I quite like you."
"I'm sorry?" Charlie asks in surprise.
"I think you're a remarkable woman to have achieved what you have, especially considering what you've had to deal with having the Inspector for your father. You're a single mum who's not only survived in this old boy's club we're in, but you've succeeded; that takes guts and determination and your daughter should be very proud of you." Joey heads to the door, pausing, "It's just too bad you have extremely poor taste in men."
Charlie sits there staring at the door, even more confused than ever; wondering how she could hate this woman one minute, admire her another and then feel something completely different the next.
Still pondering her conflicting emotions, Charlie's not really in the mood to deal with her friend when she enters a few minutes later. "Not now Georgina."
"This isn't like you Charlie."
"I know that."
"What happened Charlie, I thought the two of you were starting to act like adults around each other?"
"We were, are, oh hell, I don't know anymore Georgina; she confuses the hell out of me."
Watson chuckles, "Believe me Charlie, I've been where you are."
"I very much doubt that," she mutters.
"What?"
"Nothing. Georgina, I regretted calling her superior the moment I put the phone down but she just makes me so mad, I don't know what I'm doing half the time."
Watson watches her carefully, noticing the emotions that seemed to be at war on her face. "Charlie, what's going on?"
"It's just," Charlie shakes her head, Watson the last person she should be talking to about this. "Never mind."
"Charlie, I've never known you to even raise your hand at someone until today, so something is clearly bothering you."
"I don't think I can marry Angelo."
Watson sits back, stunned to be hearing Charlie say that. "So don't marry him."
"I don't know how to end it."
"End it?" Shocked again by Charlie's words. "The wedding or the relationship?"
"I shouldn't have said anything."
"Charlie."
"No, it's ok, it's just wedding nerves. Of course I want to marry Angelo."
Not believing her for a second, Watson drops the matter. "I guess I should be getting back to work."
"Thanks Georgina."
"For what? I really didn't do anything."
"Then thanks for being a friend and for threatening to drag your sister out by the scruff of her neck."
"Oh believe me, that's the best part of being the older sister."
"With the way she behaves, it must take quite an effort to bully her back into line," regretting her words when she sees the flash of pain in her friend's eyes. "Georgina, what is it?"
"It's nothing, I should be getting back," leaving as quickly as she could to avoid any more questions. Charlie watches her leave, wondering at the pain that seemed to flash in her friend's eyes for just a moment, having seen it earlier, in her sister's eyes when she had slapped her. "Fuck, what the hell am I even doing," Charlie asks the empty office.