Previously:
Walking along the corridor to Dex's room, Joey suddenly finds herself pulled through a door and pushed up against the wall, Charlie's lips working hungrily over hers as her hands find their way under her top.
"I was never going to survive all day at work if I didn't do that now," Charlie says breathlessly, running her hands along Joey's back, her skin hot against her hands. Their lips meet again as Charlie presses against Joey, their breasts crushed against each other as they lose themselves to their desire.
A cough has both of them jumping apart in surprise as they realise that someone was already in the toilets when they had entered.
"Don't stop on my account."
"Dex, what the hell are you doing here?" Joey demands as she tries to steady her racing heart.
"Going to the toilet." He grins, "You do realise where you are, right?"
"Fuck, it's the men's room," Charlie mutters as she finally notices their surroundings.
Joey chuckles, "Nice one Charlie."
Blushing furiously, Charlie turns on Joey, "This is your fault."
"How is it my fault?" Joey asks with amusement. "You were the one who dragged me in here and shoved me against the wall."
"It just is," she mumbles.
Joey slides her arm around her waist. "Are you ok?"
"I dragged you into the men's room and didn't even bother to check if we were alone." She leans against Joey's side. "It could have been anyone."
"Well it was only Dex."
"This time." She sighs, smiling slightly. "I think it might be a good idea to get out of here before someone else comes in."
Joey follows her out of the room, "We could just say we were helping Dex." Joey frowns, looking back at Dex. "What are you doing out of bed?"
"The doctor said I could go home today."
"Hey, that's great. So where's the wife then?"
"Indi was here earlier and Penny ended up wearing her coffee. She's just ducked out to get a new top."
"Shit, what's Indi doing here?"
Dex shrugs, "The usual."
"Who's Indi?" Charlie asks.
"My charming sister."
"When he says charming, he actually means..."
"I get it Joey," Charlie interrupts before Joey gave her a no doubt colourful description.
"There you are," a breathless Graves says as she runs up to them. "Why are you all milling around the door to the men's room?" When Charlie blushes, she shakes her head, "Never mind."
"Nice shirt Graves," Joey says, trying not to laugh.
She looks down at her top in distaste. "It's all they had at the gift shop and I didn't feel like driving all the way home to get one."
"It's um, very fetching."
"Joey, enough with the shirt already. Now, I need to ask a favour."
"Yes you can have the time off."
Graves looks at her in annoyance. "I hate it when you do that."
"It's fairly obvious Graves. Dex is hurt and you want to look after him."
"Actually, Dex wants to get his exams out of the way so we want to head back to the city today and be back late the day after tomorrow."
"Dex, I hope you're not pushing yourself too hard," Joey says, studying the bruises and swelling to his face. "You're face is still swollen."
"My vision is fine and aside from a killer headache, I'm feeling ok." He shrugs, "I only have two exams and just want to get them over with so I can come back and be with Penny."
Joey nods. "You heading off now?" She asks Graves.
"That's the plan."
"Penny, I'd like to talk to Joey first."
"Ok." Graves looks at Charlie, "Um Charlie, could I have a word."
Charlie nods, following Graves down the hallway.
"Charlie seemed a little shook up earlier."
Joey glances down the hallway at Charlie. "She's still got doubts about coming out and for a moment there, she probably thought the secret was out."
"It's only a matter of time before it's someone else that catches you."
"I know that, Charlie knows that, but she's just not ready."
"You must hate the sneaking around."
"It can be fun for a time, then it just becomes frustrating." Joey sighs, "We haven't been together that long and it's all so new for Charlie, so I'm willing to wait as long as she needs."
Dex looks at her in surprise. "What?" Joey grins, "I am capable of patience you know. So, what did you want to talk to me about, or do I even have to ask?"
"It's Indi."
"What's she done now?" Joey asks without surprise.
"Apparently she's done Angelo."
"FUCK!" Joey glances around, offering a wave of apology for her loud outburst to the nurse glaring at her. "How the hell did that happen Dex?"
"I'm assuming the usual way; boy meets girl and they have sex."
Joey snorts. "God, trust Indi to find the worst possible guy she could."
"Penny said she had marks on her wrist; that it looked like Indi had been handcuffed."
"I hate to say it Dex, but you know what she's like, especially when it comes to sex."
He nods slowly, remembering all the times he saw bruises on his sister after a night out. "She doesn't even care that he's the one who put me in hospital." He sighs heavily. "I don't know what to do about her Joey, I mean she turned up here drunk and it's only morning."
"You and your family have done everything you can for her and every time she just throws it back in your face."
"She's my sister."
"I know you love her Dex, but sometimes that's not enough."
"She's in trouble Joey."
"She's always in trouble."
"I know but this time she asked Penny for ten grand."
"Shit. Ok, I'll make some calls, see what sort of trouble she's gotten herself into."
"Thanks Joey."
"You realise that if she owes that much, she's probably gotten in deep with some bad people."
"It wouldn't be the first time Joey," he says sadly.
"Did Indi give you any clue when you spoke to her?"
"After Penny refused to give her any money, she left without even seeing me."
Joey puts her arm around him. "I'm sorry Dex."
"Charlie, I'm sorry for going off at you yesterday."
"It's ok, you were just worried about Dex."
She sighs, "It certainly wasn't the way I envisaged spending my first anniversary."
"I guess having your sister-in-law show up hasn't helped."
"You could say that. She's trouble and she's already set her sights on some guy."
"Who?"
Graves shrugs, unwilling to get into another argument about Angelo. "It doesn't matter with Indi, it's usually someone bad for her."
"I haven't met her yet, but she sounds very different to Dex."
"You'd never guess that they were twins." She shakes her head. "I don't know what went wrong with her, she's just been off the rails since she was about 12. I've tried to help, even Joey has, but she resents me for being with Dex and she blames Joey as well."
"What's Joey got to do with it?"
"Joey's known Dex longer than she's known me. He went to high school with her foster brother. One day, I turned up for Joey's birthday and Dex happened to be there. We kind of bumped into each other." She smiles fondly as she remembers, "I don't know what it was about him, we both said sorry and we just kind of found ourselves staring at each other."
"Better than sitting across a table being interrogated and looked at like she'd just scrapped me off her boot," Charlie mutters as she recalls her first meeting with Joey.
"Charlie, as long as you're a suspect, that's what you get from Joey and if she likes you, she'll ease up just a little bit when you're in the clear." Charlie chuckles at that. "Anyway, the next day at work, I asked Joey about him and she just snapped at me to stop bugging her. Two days later, Joey asked me to meet her at a café, only she never turned up."
"Let me guess, Dex did."
Graves grins, "Apparently he had been asking Joey about me and she decided she'd had enough. If you ask her, Joey will tell you she did it because she was sick of us bugging her and she thought Dex would rub off on me and make me less boring, but the real reason was, she's a romantic at heart."
"What are you two talking about?" Joey asks as she and Dex rejoin them.
"Romantics," Charlie replies.
Joey frowns but before she can say anything, Dex steps forward. "I think it's time we went Penny."
"Great idea. We'll see you guys the day after tomorrow."
"Ok and Graves, I don't want you coming back grumpy so make sure you take some time off for a late anniversary."
"Will do."
Joey glances at Charlie, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You're a romantic."
"Because I told them to take some time off?"
"That and getting them together."
Joey sighs, "Graves and her big mouth."
"It was a nice thing that you did."
"They both would have driven me crazy if I'd done nothing."
"If you say so," Charlie says with a smile.
"Let's just get to the station," Joey mutters.
Chuckling, Charlie follows after her.
"That god damn, fucking stupid prick bashed that kid. I mean, what the hell was he thinking, the kid's married to a cop."
"Angelo doesn't think, Martha."
"That's fucking obvious." Martha sighs with frustration. "We already have the ATO sniffing around the books at the restaurants and the last thing we need is anything to draw extra attention to us."
"You think Angelo did something to clue them into the restaurant?"
She nods. "The ATO started sniffing around not long after he pulled that little stunt with cancelling Charlie's restaurant reservation."
"Why have you kept him around for so long?"
"He was useful in the past but he's fast losing his usefulness, especially since Charlie's become his focus."
"You mean his obsession."
"Yeah I do. I don't know what the appeal is, Charlie's such a frigid bitch, she must have frozen his dick off every time he gave it to her."
"He's not going to be happy when he finds out that you've kept him out of the loop this time and kept me in."
"I don't care. I've gone to too much effort to keep our operation quiet to have Angelo fuck it all up." She grins maliciously, "After this next shipment, Angelo may need to be retired, permanently." She smiles over at him. "You're not going to get all squeamish on me, are you?"
"With what I earn on this, I'll get over it."
"Just remember what will happen to you and your boyfriend should you fuck with me."
"I haven't let you down yet, have I?"
"Surprisingly, no. Look, we just have to keep our heads down and we should be able to get through this without the cops even knowing we've done it."
"I wish I had your confidence."
"Hugo, our backs will be covered on the night."
"Are you sure it's wise to trust Watson with this though?"
"I don't really trust anyone, but she's been reliable in the past and as long as I stay away from her sister, I think she will continue to do so. Relax Hugo, she'll do what is necessary on the night."
"I really hope you're right."
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"Sure you won't stay?" Martha starts to unbutton her shirt on the way to her room.
"Give it up Martha, you're wasting your time."
"You don't know what you're missing," she calls out over her shoulder.
"Nothing hundreds haven't already had," he mutters under his breath, closing the front door behind him.