"I told you to get the fuck away from her Martha."
"Relax Watson, I was the one making the moves on her," Martha winks at Joey. "Her hubby doesn't need to worry about her cheating on him, it was just me being me."
Watson walks right up to her, making Martha take a step back from the fury on her face. "Stay the fuck away from my sister Martha, or you will have me to deal with."
"You're kind of cute when you're angry," Martha says, before pulling a surprised Watson into a kiss.
"Get off me you fucking bitch," Watson shoves her away, wiping her mouth in disgust.
Martha chuckles at her reaction, "It's true what they say about anger adding spice to a relationship. I have work to do." With a suggestive glance to Joey and a little wave to a furious Watson, Martha makes her exit.
"Fuck Joey, I really can't take you anywhere, can I?" Watson says, glaring at her sister.
"I didn't know she was going to follow me into the damn loos."
"Joey, do you even know what you're doing?"
"Of course I do."
"Really?" Watson acts surprised, "So what have you managed to learn from Martha, other than what side of the bed she sleeps on."
"Georgie, we've only talked a couple of times, it's going to take a while."
"No it's not. You're ending this Joey and whatever it is that you've got going with Charlie."
"For fucks sake, there is nothing going on with Charlie."
"Joey, this is me you're talking to." Watson walks over to her, leaning on the bench next to her. "You can't get involved with her, you know that."
"I'm not involved with her," Joey repeats yet again.
Watson stares at her, "Give me some credit Joey, I've seen the way you are with her." Joey sighs in annoyance, refusing to say anything. "Joey, you're trying to put her fiancé in jail and we both know what sort of man he is, if he finds out, he's going to flip. I also seriously doubt that Charlie has the backbone to actually leave Angelo. And I'm scared Joey, scared that you're losing focus and that Charlie is a distraction that could cost you dearly"
"You think I don't know that," Joey says in a defeated voice.
"You need to pull back."
"We kissed," Joey finally admits, "The night she apologised, she'd had too much to drink and she kissed me and now I can't stop thinking about her." Joey puts her head down, "I can't help it Georgie."
Watson hugs her, "Please don't do this to yourself."
"I don't want this Georgie."
Stepping back, Watson takes her hand, holding it up so Joey could see her wedding ring. "Then remember Joey, as long as you're wearing this, you can't commit to anyone else and that taking things any further with Charlie wouldn't be fair on her, especially while you're still keeping her in the dark about so many things."
Joey leans against the bench again, "Georgie, can you just drop it, I've had enough of Graves speculating about this and I just want to forget it. Nothing is going to happen ok?"
Watson sighs as she reluctantly accedes, "But I don't want you anywhere near Martha, she's too unpredictable and if you're not on your guard, she'll be the one finding out things, not you."
"I can't just walk away without it looking suspicious."
"Well, having your big sister spring you gives you an excuse to pull back from her and if I have to, I'll just have to remind Martha again about staying away."
"Come off it Georgie, that would just encourage her."
"Maybe, but letting her know I'm going to be in her face, might be enough to keep her away, at least until she thinks things are settling down."
"I don't know Georgie, she covers her tracks, there's no evidence against her. I want her in jail before she hurts another kid."
"Joey, I want that too, but if she's so careful about covering her tracks, do you really think that she'll let something slip."
Joey shrugs her doubt, "I just need to be doing something."
"Then look harder Joey, but stay the fuck away from her."
"What's going on?" Charlie asks, bewildered by the tension between the sisters when not long ago they were joking around.
"Nothing is going on," Joey snaps, brushing past Charlie on her way out the door.
"Georgina, what the hell is going on?" feeling a little hurt by Joey's abruptness.
"My sister and I were just talking."
"It sounded more like arguing and who were you telling her to stay away from?" Charlie asks. "It was Martha wasn't it, I saw her leave the toilets just after you came in. She made a pass at Joey and that's why she was upset, wasn't it?"
"Yes," thankful that she didn't really have to deceive her friend too much.
Spurred on by jealousy, Charlie stalks toward the door. "Charlie, wait."
"No Georgina, I've had it with Martha and I'm not letting her get away with this."
"Charlie, it's better that you don't get involved with this, especially considering your feelings toward Martha," and my sister she adds silently, Charlie's jealous reaction confirming to her that whatever was happening wasn't just one sided. "If anyone is going to have a go at her, it will be me."
"Maybe I should check on Joey then."
"Leave her be Charlie, she just needs to cool off and then she'll come home when she's ready."
"That sounds like something she does regularly."
"Not as much as she used to, thank god."
"There really is a lot to learn about her, isn't there?"
"You have no idea," Watson mutters. "Come on, we'd better get back out there and make sure Graves is safe from Martha."
"I really wish Martha had taken Morag up on her offer of moving to the city," Charlie says, following Watson out.
Walking into the diner the next morning, Joey is surprised when Ruby comes up to her, looking none too pleased.
"Did you do something to my mum last night?"
"No," Joey says confused, "Why would you think that?"
"She was out with you guys last night and this morning mum seemed kind of upset and I don't think it had anything to do with Angelo being gone."
Joey is about to deny it again when she realises what may have happened, "Oh."
"Oh, oh what?"
"Your mum kind of walked into a disagreement I was having with my sister and I was a little hasty in my exit." Joey shrugs, "I guess your mum may have thought I was pissed with her or something."
"Well that's a relief, I thought you'd had another falling out and I was going to be banned from seeing you again," Ruby says, before slapping Joey on the arm.
"Hey, what was that for," rubbing her arm.
"For pissing off my mother like that."
"It wasn't intentional."
"I hope you're going to apologise."
"I'm not even sure if that is why she's upset."
"Of course it is, the only time she gets upset lately, it's always something to do with you."
Surprised by what Ruby had said, Joey promises to speak to her mother before grabbing her food and leaving before Ruby makes her apologise for anything else.
Nicole leans across the table when Ruby sits back down, keeping her voice low. "Ruby, you don't have a thing for Joey, do you?"
"Don't be ridiculous, you know I'm seeing someone, but I think my mum does."
Nicole's eyes widen, "You're kidding!"
"Nope," Ruby grins. "When they started to get friendly, actually, maybe even before then, mum changed, she was smiling more and when they fell out, she was all miserable."
"That's all you're going on, your mother's moods?"
"I've seen the way mum looks at her and the other day she got so jealous when she found out Joey knew Martha."
Nicole shakes her head in disbelief, "Ruby, there is no way that your mum is gay."
"Why not? Angelo's the longest she's ever dated a guy and before him, most were over before they'd even started."
"You're forgetting that she's marrying Angelo."
"She can't marry him Nic, she doesn't love him."
"I've seen them together, she does love him."
Ruby reluctantly nods, "Ok, so she loves him but I don't think she's in love with him, I mean, he's been in the spare room the last few nights and he left for his parents last night and mum doesn't even seem to care."
"So they're having problems, that doesn't mean it's because she's interested in someone else," Nicole says, playing the voice of reason.
"Before Joey came, mum just went along with whatever Angelo said, now she's actually saying no to him."
"Maybe she's just more confident."
"Nic, Angelo and mum were practically joined at the hip, they were at it all the time and now they're fighting all the time and mum has suddenly decided she doesn't want to have sex with him."
"How do you know that?"
"Because whenever they have sex, Angelo always struts around as if he's king, but lately he's moping around and I heard mum say that she didn't want to have sex with him."
"Ok, so maybe there's other reasons for that, like the stress they've been under lately."
"I'm telling you Nic, I know my mother and I've never seen her like this with anyone other than Joey."
"And what if she is interested in her, Joey's married."
"Oh fuck, I keep forgetting that. Damn, she'd be great for mum."
"Ruby, don't go getting any ideas."
"Angelo is completely wrong for mum, no woman deserves a man like him, except maybe Martha and I really think that she might be into women."
"And maybe she's just into Joey and not women in general."
"Ok, I'll admit that may be true and that Joey's out of reach, but I'd at least like mum to realise that she may be into women before she marries Arsehole Rosetta."
Nicole rolls her eyes, knowing it was hopeless to try to stop Ruby once she had her mind set on something.
"Charlie," Joey says from the doorway to her office.
"Come in."
"I just wanted to apologise for last night."
"That's ok, I know that it was Martha that upset you."
Hating lying to her, Joey knows she can't tell her the truth, "Yeah, but that's no excuse for being rude to you."
"I warned you that Martha was trouble."
"I haven't heard anything different since I got here."
"Most people wised up to Martha years ago and she just stopped pretending."
"She certainly doesn't hold back, that's for sure."
"Just watch yourself with her."
"With you and Georgie on my side, I think I'm pretty safe from her."
"So, are you and Georgina ok then?"
"Of course we are," Joey assures her with a smile. "Charlie, just because we're sisters, that doesn't mean that we don't argue occasionally."
"It just felt like I had walked into something pretty intense."
"Georgie just likes playing big sister and running my life," Joey jokes. "What about you, are you missing lover boy?" Joey asks, feeling guilty that she and Graves had discovered that Angelo had lied to Charlie about going to his parents and were now worrying about where he had disappeared to.
Surprised by the question but not by her dismissive tone, Charlie confesses that she really hadn't thought much of it. "It's only been a night after all."
"What's that say about your relationship though, that you're not thinking much about him?"
"If it's all the same Joey, I'd rather not talk about Angelo with you."
"Sorry, it's just that I'd hate to see you make a huge mistake."
"You say that as if you're speaking from experience."
Smiling wryly, "Before I got married, all my relationships were train wrecks." Joey shrugs, "Most of it was my fault, I tried to convince myself that I was happy, but I was lying to myself and to my lovers." Charlie swallows hard when she thinks that Joey's husband must have been special for her to have married him. "It's not just my romantic relationships that end in disaster, my mother hated my guts, my father was too weak to stand up for me and most of my friends give up on me after awhile."
"Georgina hasn't and from what I can gather, your foster family has stuck by you, just as Graves has."
"Yeah, though I don't know why they do some times."
"Stop putting yourself down Joey," Charlie says forcefully as she wonders why Joey was talking about this.
"I'm not."
"You are. You act surprised that people not only like you, but they stick with you." Joey just shrugs. "I never expected to say this about you, but you're a wonderful person Joey, and though I can still only guess at what you endured as a child, you still have the compassion to be there for others, like you are with Ruby."
Joey grins, "Maybe I should keep you around just to stroke my ego."
Charlie blushes when another image flashes in her mind at the word stroke. Joey is about to say more when Watson bursts into the office, "Charlie, a man matching Robbo's description has been sighted at the old Simpson farm house."
"That area was checked out, wasn't it?"
"We checked all abandoned buildings and houses in the area but maybe Robbo's been moving between them, that's why we haven't been able to find him."
"Get Hogan and two others, we're going out there."
Joey puts her hand on Charlie's arm to stop her. "Charlie, I know you want him for what he did to Ruby, but maybe you should stay here."
"No way Joey, he tried to rape my daughter, I want to be there when we catch him." Charlie takes the hand on her arm, squeezing gently. "I'm not going to do anything that his defence attorney will use against me, but I need to be there."
"Ok, let's go and get this bastard then."
Watson looks up at the darkening sky as she climbs out of the car, "Great, we come to an old deserted house in the middle of nowhere and it's getting dark."
"Don't worry Georgie, there's no such thing as ghosts."
"Shut up Joey."
Charlie turns to address the officers there, "We all know Robbo and how dangerous he can be, so have your weapons ready and be alert. Giles and Graves, I want you to keep an eye on the back, Hogan watch the front, Georgina and Joey, we're going inside. Remember, don't take any chances, let's go."
Entering the house, the trio check the first room, slowly moving to the second. Catching something out of the corner of her eye, Joey stares down the passageway. Watson turns to say something to her sister, "Joey...fuck, where is she?"
Charlie looks behind them, "She was right behind us."
"That stupid little bitch, if Robbo doesn't kill her, I fucking will," Watson fumes at her sister's stupidity.
Hearing a door close in the distance, Joey rounds the corner, keeping her steps even and soft, she makes her way down the passageway, reaching the door at the end. Once again hearing movement, Joey stands to the side to avoid any unwelcome attack or gunshot as she opens the door, wincing at the sound of the door creaking, sounding so loud in the silence. Hearing nothing, Joey peers around the doorframe, cursing when the open door reveals the top of a narrow staircase that descends into darkness. Joey looks back down the passageway she had just come, the sound of the others drawing closer, weighing up her options, Joey's decision is made when she hears the noise below. Keeping low, she takes the first step, releasing the breath she hadn't realised she was holding when nothing comes out of the dark at her. Noticing that there actually was some light at the bottom, she takes each step slowly, wincing as the steps groan under her weight as she descends into the near darkness, silently thinking she was making a huge mistake when she reaches the final step safely, pausing to allow her eyes to adjust. Looking around the sparsely furnished room, Joey crouches low at the ready when she hears a rustling sound, stifling her scream when a picture frame leaning against the wall falls to the ground and a rat goes scurrying across the floor. "Fuck," she chuckles softly, hoping that the rat was the noise that had brought her to this room. Looking for the source of the light, Joey discovers two doors located on each side of the room. Joey walks over to the nearest one, finding it locked, she tries the other one; feeling the handle turn, she pushes gently, the door opening easily to reveal a narrow tunnel lit by the type of shielded lights you'd find in a mine. "Who the fuck was this guy," she mutters, wondering why the owner would have tunnels under his house. Crouching, Joey looks at the footsteps in the dirt. "Shit, someone has been here," she mutters as she realises the footprints were fresh. Glancing over her shoulder, seeing in the now lighter room that no one was hiding and hoping Charlie and the others will find the open door to the stairway and follow her, Joey shakes her head at her own stupidity as she steps into the tunnel, the door clicking shut behind her. Fighting down her panic at the claustrophobic feeling of the enclosed space, memories of being trapped as a child in the closet for hours on end, Joey tries to calm her nerves by reminding herself what this guy had done to Ruby. Steeling herself, Joey heads down the tunnel, hearing nothing except the sound of her own heart beating and her footsteps as she brushes aside the cobwebs.
After what seemed like forever, Joey reaches another door. "What am I doing?" Joey asks herself as she opens the door and walks carefully through, finding herself in a larger room filled with boxes of cigarettes and booze. Picking up a bottle of expensive whiskey, Joey whistles softly as she imagined the cost of the goods there. Putting the bottle back, Joey looks about the room, seeing to her right another darkened tunnel. "I really hate this guy." Walking over, Joey realising that some of the lights had blown or been broken, giving the tunnel an eerie gloom. "Come on Joey, he's getting away," she tells herself to make herself take that first step. Walking as quietly as she could in the gloom, Joey curses when she bumps her head on a low hanging beam. Feeling a trickle of blood, Joey wipes it away as she continues on, moving more carefully as she tries to navigate in the poor light, not wanting to stumble or hit her head again. The sense of claustrophobia gripping her again as the darkness becomes more complete, Joey breathes a sigh of relief a few minutes later when she sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Chuckling a little at that, she heads toward it, the tunnel widening into another chamber. Tripping over something, Joey looks down and sees the track used in mines to cart supplies in and out. "Fuck, I'm in a mine." Wishing now more than ever that she wasn't alone, Joey starts to think it's time to head back when she hears a man's voice swearing in a tunnel to her left. Without thinking, Joey rushes down the tunnel, slowing when reaches the end. Approaching the exit cautiously, Joey steps out into the open. Taking in a deep breath of fresh air, Joey looks around her, seeing nothing but heavy bushland. Feeling a sudden chill wash over her making the hairs on her arms stand on end, Joey reacts too late as the shadow to her right bursts into life, crashing into her and knocking her to the ground, her breath rushing out of her from the impact.
"Stupid bitch," Robbo yells at her, slamming her head into the ground before leaving her lying dazed as he runs off. Getting to her feet shakily, with the sky quickly darkening with the approaching night, Joey stumbles disorientated into the bush.
Catching her foot on a stump, Joey falls to the ground. Feeling as if the world was spinning, Joey gets to her knees as the nausea hits her. Wiping her mouth once she'd stop vomiting, Joey struggles to her feet, resting her hands on her knees as she waits for things to stop spinning. Jumping in fright at the rustling noise nearby, disorientated and lost, with no idea what she was doing in her confused state, she runs headlong through the bush as the growing darkness makes her flight more treacherous. Out of breath, Joey comes to a halt, her breath coming in ragged gasps. Hearing more rustling, Joey crouches behind a large rock, her hand over her mouth as she tries to quieten her breathing. She peeks around the rock, straining to see anything in the thick bush and darkening sky. Letting out her breath when she realises it's just the wind and the bush combining to creep her out, Joey pulls her legs to her chest, a position she took every time her mother locked her in the closet while she waited in the small, darkened tight confines for her mother to finally let her out. With her mind finally clearing, Joey's no longer sure what was going to be worse, being lost in the bush or imagining her sister's anger at her recklessness if she's ever found.
Seeing something in her peripheral vision, Joey's body stills as the shadow she can now just make out moves closer to her position. Reaching for her gun, Joey curses when she realises that she didn't have it anymore. Exhaling in relief when a kangaroo bounds out, Joey stands up, the distinctive sound of someone clearing their throat behind her making her turn. Finding herself staring down the barrel of her own gun, Joey regrets not telling Charlie the truth about everything.