Sorry this chapter is late, I've had trouble logging into my account to upload it.

Charlie lies in bed the next morning, still feeling the buzz from the previous evening, not to mention the frustration of not being able to consummate their relationship. She smiles as she remembers the make out session that had occurred in the car when she had driven Joey home; the way they had kissed, completely losing track of time until Charlie had inadvertently bumped the car horn some 30 odd minutes later and made them both jump away from each other, looking around to make sure no one had seen them. When they realised there was no one about, they'd laughed. Charlie had felt both exhilarated to be Joey like that and frightened at the way she'd completely forgotten that anyone could have walked by the car and seen them. Then she'd looked at Joey, gently illuminated by the street light and at that moment, she wouldn't have really cared if they had been busted. Until the next morning when the shit would have hit the fan and it was all over town that she had been seen pashing another woman, she thinks to herself. "God, I hate all this secrecy," she mutters just as there was a soft knock at the door.

"Mum," Ruby calls out.

"What is it Ruby?"

"Can I come in?"

"Of course you can," Charlie replies, wondering why her daughter had even bothered to knock when she usually just bowled right in.

"I'm not going to see something I shouldn't, am I?"

Charlie frowns at the question. "No."

Ruby pokes her head in, before stepping all the way in when she sees that her mother is alone, "Where's Joey?"

"As far as I know, she's home, why?"

"Just wondering," Ruby shrugs as she sits on the bed next to her mother. "So, how was the date?"

"It was nice."

"Just nice?"

"Ruby," Charlie says in a warning voice.

"I'm just asking."

"No, you're fishing. Ruby, Joey is barely out of the hospital and we're trying to keep our relationship quiet, so for the moment, our dates are going to be a bit limited."

"What's she like though, on a date?"

Charlie smiles, "She's very charming and funny."

"Really?"

"Yes she is. Joey is a very complicated woman Ruby, with many different sides to her and I'm only just discovering some of them."

"Mum, how do plan on dating Joey if you're trying to keep it a secret?"

"We'll find a way Ruby and it's not as if we can't spend time alone at home."

Ruby grins suddenly, "I can't wait to see the looks on people's faces when you and Joey finally come out."

"I'm glad someone's looking forward to it," Charlie mutters.

"If people are your real friends mum, then it shouldn't bother them."

"I'm the Sergeant here Ruby, that carries a certain responsibility."

"Is there anything in the Police manual that says you have to be straight to be a Sergeant?"

She glares at Ruby, "Of course not but it's a small town Ruby and there's still a lot of prejudice about."

"It doesn't bother Joey," Ruby points out. "She's a cop and she's also a mum but she could care less what people think about her."

"That's one of the things I admire about her, but I'm not Joey and it's not that easy for me."

"How do you know mum when you haven't even tried?"

"I don't. Ruby, I just want to get to know Joey without everyone looking at as and once it's out, there's going to be a lot of people who will be on Angelo's side. I mean, Colleen's already had a few digs about ending it with Angelo."

"Colleen's a nasty old busy body."

"There's also Angelo to consider. He still hasn't accepted that it's over between us and I really don't want to rub his nose in it and cause trouble."

"I don't know why you're worried about his feelings."

"He's not going to take it well Ruby, so I want to give him time to realise that we're finished in the hope that he won't cause too much trouble for us. Ruby, it won't always be like this, but for the moment, this is the way it's going to be."

"I still think it sucks. You and Joey look great together and you should be able to go out with your girlfriend just like everyone else."

Charlie pulls Ruby to her side, kissing her temple. "I love you Ruby."

"Mum!" Ruby whines, embarrassed.

Charlie chuckles. "Why don't you be helpful and get breakfast ready."

Ruby mumbles something about slave labour as she leaves her mother to get dressed.

Graves smirks at Joey when she walks into the kitchen for breakfast. "A little car trouble last night Joey?"

"What are you on about, I didn't take my car last night."

"I know, I was talking about Charlie's car," she continues to smirk. "It was parked there for quite a while last night."

"Graves, you're 22, do you want to live to 23?"

"Sometimes you are just no fun at all."

Joey glares at her, "I'm injured, I'm bored and I haven't been able to anything more than kiss Charlie so yeah, I'm not exactly fun at the moment."

"You're obviously on your best behaviour with Charlie though."

"Graves, unless you want me in a bad mood for the rest of the day, how about we keep my love life off limits over breakfast."

Graves snorts, "You're nearly always grumpy in the morning Joey, unless a certain blue eyed beauty is around."

Joey shakes her head in exasperation, deciding to change the subject, she asks Graves about the restaurant.

"Other than the food being pricey and not really my kind of thing, it's just a restaurant."

"There was no takeaway service though, right?"

"No, it was eat in only. Joey, what's this about?"

"Charlie and I were supposed to be eating there last night, but Rosey called and cancelled her reservation."

"Prick," she mutters.

"He then faked a call-out to get Charlie alone and he just happened to have the restaurant which doesn't offer a takeout service, deliver a romantic meal."

Graves shrugs, "Maybe he has some pull or is mates with the owner."

"Maybe, but child prostitution is a lucrative business, yet Rosey's accounts show nothing out of the ordinary. It's possible he has off-shore accounts we know nothing about, but it wasn't so long ago that his parent's restaurant was just about to go under, when a silent partner rescued them. They now own five restaurants."

Graves nods as she realises where Joey was going. "Rosey funnels the profits from their less than legal activities through the restaurants."

"Exactly, though it's more than likely Martha's idea and not his. When they need to, they open a new restaurant, like here, in the middle of nowhere."

"It's not that bad here Joey," Graves says, having grown quite fond of the place and some of the people.

"Ok, but it's hardly the place you'd find a pricey gourmet restaurant. You've been here long enough Graves, are the people of Summer Bay the type to frequent a place like that?"

"Those who could afford it maybe, but it's more a place you'd take a date to impress them."

"Places like that would struggle to be successful in such a small town."

"Considering me and Dex went on a Friday night, the place was just about dead."

"I bet the books would show something very different though."

"You may be right. Leah told me that it had only opened a few weeks before we got here and as far as she knows, other than the first week, they haven't exactly been run off their feet with customers."

"It may turn out to be nothing, but I want you to check into the owner."

"Will do. So, when are you coming back to work anyway?"

"Whenever the damn doctor says I can," Joey mutters.

"Well I hope it's soon, because bored Joey's a bigger pain in the arse than every other Joey I've seen."

"Beware Graves, there may be a few Joey's you haven't seen yet and you may just find out there's an even more unpleasant one if you keep this up."

"An even more unpleasant what?" Watson asks as she walks into the kitchen.

"Jesus Georgie, you look like shit."

"Why thank you Graves, that's just what I want to hear first thing in the morning."

"God, you two are definitely sisters. Are you ok though, you really don't look well."

Before she can answer, Watson bolts from the room, her hand over her mouth.

"Maybe we should check on her," Graves says in concern.

"She'll let us know if she needs us. She probably just had something that didn't agree with her last night."

A few minutes later, Watson returns. Groaning, she slumps onto the chair, "God, remind me to steer clear of prawns in the future."

"Maybe you should stay home," Graves suggests.

"I'll be fine."

"It'd give you a day free of Rosey," Joey says. "You can always go in later if you're feeling better."

Watson looks at Graves. "I'll let Charlie know you're sick," Graves says as she stands. "I'll see you guys after work."

At the sound of the front door closing, Joey moves closer to her sister. "She's a detective Georgie, it's only a matter of time."

"I know." She rubs her eyes, "I just want this all to be over with Joey so everything can go back to the way it was before."

"We may be on to something with Rosey that will help us."

"I hope you're right."

"The guy's an idiot and if it wasn't for Martha pulling the strings, we'd have him in no time."

"I'm really not too sure who's the worst of those two."

"It doesn't matter, they're both going down and then life gets back to normal."

"Back in the city," she says with some sadness.

"Georgie, you don't have to move back."

"Our lives are back there Joey."

"You've set yourself up here, you have a house, good friends and a job you love, there's really no need for you to move back."

"You know the reason why I can't stay and I've really loved having you and Graves here, I'd miss not having you nearby"

"Never thought I'd hear you say that," she jokes. "Georgie, things are changing for the both of us and we're both going to have to make some decisions about our futures soon."

"Charlie?"

Joey nods, "Once the investigation is over, my job here is finished."

"You would leave Charlie?"

"If Charlie forgives me for all the lies, then no, I couldn't leave her." She smiles wryly, "We're still so new and I'm not really sure where we will end up, but after everything we've been through to get here, I don't want to lose that." She sighs, "It doesn't change the fact that my job is in the city."

"You could go back to uniform and transfer here," Watson suggests.

"I'm a Sergeant and so is Charlie but she has seniority which makes it unlikely that we would be stationed together and even if we were, we wouldn't be allowed to date."

"Charlie was engaged to a junior officer."

"She got approval for that before she accepted the promotion and I think we both know that was largely due to her father's influence. Can you see them being so accommodating to a lesbian relationship, especially when we'd be the most senior officers at the station?"

Watson snorts, "God no."

Joey puts her arm across her sister's shoulders, "We both have decisions to make about our careers and our lives but whatever happens, I'll always be there with you."

She leans against her sister, her head on her shoulder, "Thanks Joey."

"You up for some food now?" The thought of food makes Watson sit up, her hand going over her mouth as she bolts from the room again. "I guess that's a no," Joey muses as she follows her sister.

Charlie looks up when Angelo strolls into her office without knocking and closes the door behind him.

"Angelo, I'd prefer if you knocked like every other officer here."

"I'm not every other officer here Charlie," he says with a big grin, "I'm the only one who's seen you naked for a start."

"Angelo, that type of talk is not appropriate," Charlie says, glad she hadn't blurted out that he wasn't the only one to have seen her naked.

"Sorry," his tone suggesting that he wasn't. "Charlie, I just wanted to say I was sorry about yesterday."

"You had no right to cancel that reservation Angelo, nor did you have the right to get me out there by faking a call-out."

"I'm sorry ok, I was just trying to be romantic by having the meal delivered and you have to admit, the scenery was perfect for it."

"Angelo, we're not together anymore and I had already arranged to have dinner with Joey."

Angelo just shrugs, "So it was nothing important and I saved you a lot of money."

Charlie keeps a tight rein on her temper as she glares at him. "Joey was in hospital for a while, so I thought she'd appreciate a nice meal."

"It would have been a waste of money and she's a dyke Charlie, if you had taken her to that restaurant, people would have talked."

"She's my friend." As furious as she was with him, Charlie can't help but feel guilty for having thought the same thing.

"I still don't get why you are friends with that woman. She treated you like shit when she came here and in case you've forgotten, she's still after me."

"It's a little hard to forget when you constantly moan about it." She sits back in her chair, "Joey and I certainly didn't get off to the best start, but we grew to respect each other and that developed into more."

Angelo narrows his eyes, "What do you mean more?"

"More as in we're friends Angelo and I really don't know why I'm discussing this with you because it is absolutely none of your business."

"It is my business Charlie. I still love you and I understand that you need space right now, so I'm willing to wait, but until we're back together again, I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be seen alone with that woman," he says as if he was being completely reasonable. Charlie looks at him in disbelief. "Come on Charlie, you know I'm right."

"Angelo, we are finished," her frosty tone stunning Angelo. "And in the future, you will keep all discussions here work related."

"Obviously I haven't gone about this the right way," he mutters. "Charlie, we can work out any problems we have."

"The only problem I have is your inability to accept that we're finished." Charlie takes a deep breath, trying to keep her tone level. "Angelo, we are no longer a couple, so you have no say in who I choose to spend my time with."

"Charlie, please, we can work this out."

"I don't want to work it out Angelo."

"You don't mean that."

Charlie leans toward him, "I don't love you anymore Angelo, I don't want to be with you anymore and I don't want to marry you."

Angelo grins, "I love it when you play hard to get." He stands up and leans on the desk. "We belong together Charlie, everyone knows that, especially your father and we wouldn't want to disappoint him now, would we?"

"I've been nothing but a disappointment to my father since the moment I was born a girl, now, unless you have something work related to discuss, I'd like you to get back to work."

"You'll give in Charlie," he says on his way to the door. "You always do."

"Not this time Angelo," she says with the utmost of confidence to the closed door. "I've already moved on."

Next chapter, Joey and Angelo have a run in and Ruby reveals a secret to Joey.