A few days later, Charlie and Joey are leaving the hospital, having interviewed May who was finally well enough to talk to them.
"Miles feels guilty," Charlie says with some sadness.
"He shouldn't. He had no way of knowing his wife was going to surprise him by coming home early or that she never got his message about going to Sydney."
Charlie sighs, leaning against the car. "Nicole was lucky, she must have missed the guy by only a matter of minutes."
"Yeah, I hate to think how this guy would react if he was interrupted."
"I only wish May was able to tell us more."
"Just be glad that she was well enough to speak."
"I am, I'm just so sick of us never catching a break in this case."
"We will Sergeant. This guy will slip up and when he does, we'll get him."
"Unfortunately that means that another woman will have to be attacked for him to slip up."
"I hope that doesn't happen, but I think we both know that this guy will strike again and there's not a whole lot we can do to stop him." Joey leans on the car next to her. "We've done everything possible Sergeant, the public has been warned to make sure no woman is left alone after 6pm, whether they're married or not, we have uniforms out there canvassing for witnesses and every little bit of evidence from all the cases has been gone over with a fine tooth comb. We've done what we can Sergeant," Joey tells her, "but for the moment, this guy is just smarter than us."
Charlie smiles wryly, "There's nothing worse than a crim who's smarter than the cops."
"I don't know, considering some of the cops I've met over the years, that doesn't necessarily make the crims all that intelligent," Joey quips, drawing a laugh from Charlie.
"I can see why you made Det. Sergeant so soon," Charlie says, smiling at her, "You actually know what you're doing."
"Shhh, don't tell anyone that, you'll ruin my reputation for being an A-grade bitch who uses sarcasm to hide my stupidity."
"There's no danger of that." Charlie winces when she realises how that may have sounded. "That's not what I meant...I just meant that...um."
"That I'm not stupid but I am a bitch?" Joey helps her out.
"Yeah, um...," Charlie shakes her head, chuckling at how tongue-tied she had become. "Yeah, something like that."
"It's ok Sergeant, I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with."
"Charlie."
"Huh?"
"All this Sergeant and Detective formalities is getting a bit tiring; it's Charlie."
"Fine Charlie, you can still call me Det. Collins," grinning cheekily at Charlie, who finds herself captivated once again by the change a simple smile makes to Joey.
"Why do you act the way you do?"
"I always find that if you keep people off balance, they're more likely to slip up."
"Yeah, but you're like this all the time."
"Maybe I am, but no offence Charlie, most of the time you've only ever seen me in work situations."
"So you're not a bitch when you're at home?"
Joey grins at her again. "I didn't say that and if you ask Georgie, she'll tell you that I am."
"You must have been a handful growing up," Charlie says, regretting it immediately when she sees the pain flash in her eyes again. "How about we go for a drink?" Charlie asks before she even realised what she had done.
"Sorry?"
"I um...it's just that my shift is over now, Ruby's spending the night with her father and Angelo's working late, so I was just thinking it would be nice for the two of us to get to know each other outside of work," Charlie says. "I mean we are working together and Ruby's spending time with you, I just thought it would be a good idea to know you better," she adds lamely.
Thinking of what Ruby had said about her mother, Joey finds herself accepting, much to the surprise of both of them.
"Miles isn't the only one who feels guilty about May, is he?" asks Joey, concerned about her silence since they'd arrived at the bar.
"I know what you said before, but I still can't help feeling that there was something that I've missed or could have done differently that would have gotten him off the street before he had a chance to attack May."
"Charlie, you can't do this to yourself and you haven't missed anything."
"Really?"
"Really."
Charlie smiles at her confident assurances. "I just hated seeing May like that."
"Sid said that the surgery was a success and he's confident that she's going to have very little scarring and it's a good sign for her emotional state that May was strong enough to speak to us about what happened to her."
Charlie sighs, "She's a lot stronger than I would be."
"May has people who love her and a lot to live for, so do you. You have Ruby, you have friends."
Charlie chuckles, "I noticed you left out family and Angelo."
Joey grins at her, "Can you blame me?"
"Considering your feelings about Angelo, no and as for my father, he hasn't even bothered to keep in contact since I told him he had to accept Ruby."
"Ruby's a great kid, I don't know why he'd have a problem accepting her."
"He refuses to accept her because she's a reminder that I actually had the nerve to become an unwed, pregnant teenager without his permission, thereby bringing shame to him and if that wasn't bad enough, I then defied him by keeping Ruby."
"He wanted you to get rid of her?"
"A buddy of his couldn't have kids, so dad promised him mine."
"You're kidding!" Joey says, once again shocked by his callousness.
"Oh, it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart, oh no, dad wanted something from him in return. I have no idea what it was, but dad was furious when mum told him that I was keeping my baby."
"You don't regret defying him?"
"Definitely not. If I'd listened to him, someone else would have had my daughter. The only thing I regret is allowing him to treat Ruby like she didn't exist for so long."
"He really is a piece of work."
"I've spent years trying to please him, but nothing was ever good enough."
"He must be happy that you're marrying his pride and joy though," Joey says sarcastically.
Charlie smiles sadly, "He's finally getting the son he always wanted."
"Are you sure you're getting married for the right reasons?"
"I do love Angelo."
"Enough to marry him and spend the rest of your life with him?"
Charlie stares into her wine glass, "I think I'm just nervous because this is a big commitment."
"It's a very big commitment."
"How old were you when you got married?"
"21."
"Wow, I can't imagine ever marrying that young."
"When you find the right person, it's easy to make that kind of commitment, just look at Graves."
"I don't think I've ever met anyone who's always in such a good mood."
"She's still fairly new to the job and her marriage," Joey grins, "She hasn't had time to become jaded yet."
Charlie laughs along with her. "What's her husband like?"
"Dex is great. He's a few years younger than her, but in his own quirky way, he's absolutely perfect for her." Joey thinks back to when she first met Graves, "Before she met him, she was this fresh faced kid on the fast track, incredibly dedicated and full of ideas," Joey grins, "She was kind of boring."
"Obviously you've rubbed off on her."
"That's more to do with Dex. She's still going to make Det. Sergeant a lot quicker than me, but meeting Dex made her realise that there is a life outside of work."
"Whether you like it or not, she admires you and I've noticed some of you in the way she does her job."
"Yeah, I'm always warning her that picking up my bad habits can be dangerous to her career."
"Bad habits they may be, but they sure are effective."
"You know what, I'm hungry, how about we get something to eat?"
"I'd like that," Charlie says, surprised by how much she was enjoying the younger woman's company.
Waiting for their dessert to arrive, Charlie takes a sip of her wine as she regards Joey. "I wanted to thank you for being there for Ruby, I really appreciate it."
"Like I said, she's a great kid and it's kind of nice to be needed."
"You seem to get on well with her."
"It may surprise you Charlie, but I'm not a complete ogre."
"No, you're definitely not an ogre," Charlie says, unable to draw her eyes from Joey's.
"Here's your dessert ladies," the waiter's interruption breaking the spell.
"Thanks Shannon."
"My pleasure Joey," smiling at her in amusement.
"You know him?" Charlie asks when he leaves.
"I've met him a few times at the night club when I've gone out with Graves and Georgie."
"He seems to like you," Charlie comments, feeling a stab of jealousy.
"Shannon's one of those guys who's friendly to everyone he meets."
"Maybe you should set him up with Georgina."
Joey chokes on her drink, laughing. "Sorry, I thought you realised." When Charlie still looks at her blankly, Joey fills her in. "Shannon is Hugo Austin's boyfriend."
"Oh," Charlie blushes at her error. "Of course, that's why his name's familiar."
"You don't really know Hugo that well, so it's understandable you didn't remember his boyfriend's name."
"It sounds like you know Hugo a little better now?"
"Hugo was with Shannon a few times." Joey shrugs, "He seems an ok guy, though he's a bit full of himself."
"From what I've seen of him, I'd have to agree." Charlie watches on in amusement as Joey hoes into her dessert. "I never took you as the chocolate ice cream and raspberry topping with sprinkles type," Charlie jokes.
"It's my daughter's favourite dessert and I always have it when I'm away from her," Joey says, the spoon pausing on its way to her mouth when she realises what she had just said. Furious for allowing herself to relax so much in Charlie's company, Joey puts the spoon down.
"A daughter, you have a daughter?" Charlie says in disbelief.
"Her name's Harley," her love for her daughter obvious in the way she said those three words.
Charlie sits back in her chair, her dessert forgotten. "It's funny, when I first met you, I never would have suspected you had a child. You really do like to keep your private life private, don't you," feeling a little hurt about the revelation.
"Charlie, I don't tell people about my daughter when I'm on an investigation, because there are those I deal with who wouldn't hesitate to use her against me."
Charlie nods in understanding, "I get that, but I've never heard Georgina talk about a niece, even before you came here to investigate me and Angelo."
"Come on Charlie, I know you're friends with Georgie, so no doubt you've realised by now that neither of us are very forthcoming with our personal lives."
"No, it's like pulling teeth sometimes with Georgina."
"I'm no different."
"Do you have a photo?"
"Sure." Joey pulls out her wallet, showing Charlie the picture of her, Georgina and Harley.
"She's cute." Charlie looks more closely, frowning. "How old is she?"
"Harley's 10."
Charlie is once again shocked, "You're what, 25, 26?"
"26."
"So you were a teenage mum too?"
"You could say that." Joey looks at her a little guiltily. "I know I kind of gave you a hard time about forcing a kid on Grant at that age, but it wasn't a criticism. I was just trying to piss you off." Joey shrugs in the face of Charlie's glare. "It's how I work."
"Well you succeeded in pissing me off," Charlie says, wondering what other secrets this woman holds.
"Yeah," Joey mutters softly, twirling her glass in her hands.
Recognising the sudden sadness on her face, Charlie sighs in sympathy, "You're really missing her, aren't you?"
"It's that obvious?" Joey asks a little worriedly.
"Only when you talk about her," Charlie reassures her. "Joey, relax, if you hadn't mentioned her, I never would have known myself about her and no one else will find out, at least not from me."
"Thanks. This is the one part of my job that I hate; when I'm away from my little girl." Joey smiles sadly, "We talk on the phone every day, but it's not the same."
"I know. I find myself missing Ruby whenever she stays with her father, even for one night."
"My dessert's melting," Joey says, changing the subject.
"You should have gone with the chocolate fudge cake with fresh berries and cream."
Joey glances at Charlie's plate, "It does look rather nice."
"Try some." Scooping a bit up with her fork, Charlie holds it out to Joey, her heart racing as Joey leans across the table. Torn between watching it disappear into Joey's mouth and the view she was getting down Joey's top as she leant over, Charlie pulls the fork away, hoping Joey hadn't noticed how badly her hand was shaking.
"Wow, that really is nice."
"Yeah," Charlie says, thankful her voice wasn't shaking as badly as her hand. "What time is it?"
Joey's eyes widen in surprise when she looks at her watch. "Whoa, it's past 9."
"9! Fuck, I should have been home hours ago."
"Charlie, relax, I thought you said there was no one home."
"Angelo would have gotten home by now. I should be going." Charlie stands up reluctantly. "Joey, thanks for listening earlier and I had nice time."
"You look like you needed to talk and I had a nice time too."
"I'll see you at work tomorrow." Joey watches her walk away, afraid of the direction things were taking.
Charlie arrives home to find a message on her mobile from Angelo to say that he was covering O'Malley's shift and wouldn't be home until morning. Cursing herself for not checking her phone earlier, Charlie curls up on the couch, holding the cushion to her as she closes her eyes. Thinking back on the evening, Charlie licks her own lips as she remembers the way Joey had accepted the dessert from her fork and licked the cream off her lips, the way her heart had raced as she stared at Joey's breasts for a second time. This time offered a longer and clearer view than the brief glimpse she had previously gotten, Charlie feels her face flush at the sudden arousal the memory provoked. Holding the cushion more tightly, with tears in her eyes, Charlie's finally forced to admit to herself that her feelings for Joey were changing in a way she'd never expected after their first meeting. "Joey, why did you have to come into my life and turn it upside down?"