Praying he was too angry to have noticed that she had worked the belt binding her hands loose, Charlie waits until he is leaning over her, raking her nails down his face. When he rears back in pain and shock, she brings her knee up hard, catching him flush in the groin. Howling in agony, Angelo clutches his wounded manhood as he falls away from her, his cries of pain cut off when she punches him, sending him falling off the bed. Not waiting to see if he was recovering, she bolts from the bed in only the remnants of her tattered work shirt, flying out the front door, screaming in shock when she runs into the arms of someone.

"Get off me," she yells.

"Charlie, it's me."

Hearing Joey's voice, her resolves weakens and she collapses into her arms.

"Graves, check it out," she orders, holding her trembling girlfriend in her arms. "Oh god Charlie, you're freezing." She leads her back inside.

"No Joey, he's still here."

"It's ok Charlie, Graves will handle him. It's cold out and you're kind of naked," she says gently, taking the rug draped over the back of the couch, wrapping it around her. "Shhh," she whispers, holding her close. "It's over baby, it's over," she reassures her, stroking her back gently. "It's over. Charlie, did he," she starts, her voice cracking. "Did he rape you?"

"No, but he tried to."

Joey looks over Charlie's shoulder when Graves returns. "I'm sorry guys, by the time I followed him out the window, he'd gotten into his car and taken off."

"He's going to come back," Charlie says with a quavery voice.

Joey steps back a little, cupping Charlie's chin, raising her head until she could gaze into her eyes. "I will never let him hurt you ever again Charlie."

Seeing the determination in Joey's eyes, Charlie nods. "I'm scared though Joey."

"You and Ruby are moving in with us."

"I can't do that."

"I will do whatever I can to protect you, but as long as Angelo is out there, you're in danger and at least at our place, we can make sure that no one is ever left alone."

"I need to get some things."

"No, I'm taking you to the hospital."

"I'm ok."

Joey raises her hand, gently caressing Charlie's face, being careful of the bruises there. "We're going to have you checked out at the hospital Charlie. We also need to have you processed," she says, slipping into cop mode.

Hearing the change in Joey's tone gets through to Charlie, who nods. "I have his skin under my nails, there should be enough for DNA."

Joey kisses her forehead, whispering words of love and encouragement.

"I'll call Dex, have him pick up Ruby," Graves offers, "Then I'll pack a bag of things for the two of you."

Charlie turns to look at her, "Thank you Graves."

"Graves, are you going to be ok here on your own?"

"I'll be fine. I doubt he'll be back anytime soon and I've already called for crime scene and backup, they should be here shortly."

Feeling Charlie shivering in her arms, Joey holds her close again. "Graves, can you grab a change of clothes for her to change into at the hospital."

"Of course." She heads back into Charlie's room.

"Joey, I'm cold."

"I know you are, but until you're processed, we can't let you shower or dress." Joey sighs, "I don't want to play the cop Charlie but we need to do this by the book."

Charlie nods reluctantly, dreading the thought that everyone was going to know what had nearly happened to her.

Once Graves had returned with a change of clothes, Joey led Charlie out to her car, closing the door behind her just as two squad cars screeched to a halt. Sparing a minute to fill the officers in, she gets into the car beside Charlie. Taking her hand, she raises it to her lips. "We'll get the bastard."

Charlie smiles back weakly, holding the rug tightly around her as the car lurches forward.

Having held Charlie's hand through the entire examination and evidence processing, Joey stays close while she dresses. "I need to get the stench of him off me."

Joey embraces her from behind. "I'll run a nice warm bath for you to soak in as soon as we get home."

Charlie leans back against her. "He's a monster Joey. He had Robbo attack my little girl."

"What!"

"He wanted it to be just the two of us."

"I'll kill him," Joey fumes.

"Joey, please," she turns in her arms to face her. "I want to hurt him to, but I don't want you risking your freedom or life by doing something stupid."

Joey takes a calming breath. "I promise that when I arrest him, he'll have all his limbs and extremities intact." Charlie frowns, before Joey adds. "Without bruises or anything that a lawyer could use to get his sorry arse off on a technicality, unless of course it was unavoidable if he resists arrest."

"He needs to pay Joey."

"And he will."

"Joey, he killed Trevor."

"He actually said that," Joey says in surprise.

Charlie closes her eyes, shaking her head. "Not in so many words. I accused him and he said, not alone."

"Even if he didn't pull the trigger, if he was there, he's gone."

"It's only my word Joey and even if I was on duty at the time, it's not enough."

"We'll find a way to place him and his partner there and the gun in one of their hands."

"You know who the partner is, don't you."

"Charlie, I promise, tomorrow I'll tell you what I know about Angelo."

"Why not now?"

"Because pretty soon it's going to hit you how close to being raped you were." She cups her cheek gently. "Tomorrow Charlie, right now, I'm taking you home, where you can clean up and then I'm going to hold you in my arms for the rest of the night."

"It's not even evening Joey."

Joey smiles, "It doesn't matter. Charlie, let's just go home."

"I want to give my statement first."

"You don't need to do that today Charlie."

"I want to."

Joey sighs, "Ok, but we do it here."

"Why not at the station?"

"Because that is the last place you need to be. It's here or it's tomorrow."

Realising Joey wasn't going to budge on it, she agrees.

"Martha, we have a problem, Angelo's gone."

"No shit, he just tried to rape Charlie," Martha rages at Hugo.

"Fuck, I guess now I know why the cops are everywhere."

"We could have an even bigger problem. Georgie said that Charlie had scratched him, which means now they'll have DNA."

"So what, they already know he attacked Charlie."

"You're not getting it Hugo, they found the girl."

"What girl?"

Cursing when she remembers that he didn't know, she tells him about Annie.

"Shit," Hugo mutters. "Martha, the cases don't look connected so they have no reason to compare the DNA found on her to what they get from Charlie."

"I hope you're right, because Georgie had already told me that they suspected that those girls on the Maru were to be used as sex slaves and chances are that Joey will eventually put two and two together and realise that a missing teenage girl who shows signs of long term sexual abuse is somehow connected to them and the last thing we need is to have them linking Angelo to it all."

"Fuck. Isn't it too risky to keep the rendezvous now?"

"We don't have a choice. We just have to hope it takes the cops a while to connect it all, but one thing is for sure, once we make the deal, we have to close down the operation and move it elsewhere." She rubs her brow, "I just wish I knew how the hell Angelo got past them."

"Indi." Martha frowns. "Angelo offered her to them and while they were both having sex with her, he took off."

"Fuck, I'm surrounded by incompetent fucks ruled by their dicks. Find him, because if Angelo is caught, he'll go straight to jail and he won't get bail again." She smashes a glass against the far wall. "That weak fuck with sing like a fucking canary if he's caught."

"I already have a couple of guys out there looking for him but we can't make it too obvious if the place is going to be crawling with cops now."

Martha takes a deep breath, trying to contain her fury. "Where's Indi now?"

"I have her tied up in the back of my car."

"Get rid of her and do it personally."

"What!"

"You heard me." She stares him down. "It's time you proved yourself Hugo, get rid of that fucking little whore."

Hugo hesitates, before reluctantly nodding and heading toward the door.

"Hugo," she calls out, "Make sure the guys understand what will happen if they don't find Angelo or if they draw any attention to us."

Martha slumps against the bar the moment Hugo was gone, her head in her hands as the door opens. "We're closed," she yells out, without looking.

"Even for me?"

"Shit, I wasn't expecting you."

"Obviously."

While Charlie soaks in the bath, Joey discusses things with Graves and her sister.

"Every cop is out there looking Joey and as soon as we fill you in, we'll be back out there with them."

"No Georgie. You've done enough for today, you're staying here."

Too tired to argue, Watson nods.

"I can't believe Rosey would be so stupid to attack Charlie like that," says Graves.

"The guy has lost it big time," Joey mutters. "Charlie had changed the locks to her place not long after she ended it with him, so how did he get in?"

"We found marks on the back door where he'd jimmied the lock," Graves informs them. "Most of the neighbours were at work, but we have one who saw Rosey climbing out the window and two others recognised his car as it sped away, in the opposite direction to his place."

Watson frowns. "He's been laying low the past few days, so how did he know Charlie would be alone?"

"Maybe he didn't and he just followed her home." Joey shrugs, "Who knows how his twisted mind works."

"No one seems to have seen him or Indi outside his place since he was bailed out," Graves says. "When we went around there, there was no sign of Indi, but it looked like they may have had company."

"Company?"

"The neighbour next door said she'd seen at least two men through the windows."

Joey sits back in her seat. "Probably babysitters to keep him out of trouble."

"Well they suck," Watson mutters. "If I hire someone to look after my kid, they better bloody do their job."

"Where do you think Indi is?" Graves asks, more out of concern for her husband's feelings than her own.

"She could be meeting up with Rosey or with whoever these other guys were. Georgie, any news on the autopsies?"

"O'Malley's autopsy was still being done last I heard, but with two bodies and an attempted rape in two days, they're rushed off their feet. We won't get any reports until tomorrow now," she answers. "Joey, how is Charlie doing?"

"She's pretty banged up and even after giving her statement at the hospital, I don't think it's really hit her just yet. You know that Rosey arranged for Robbo to rape and murder Ruby."

"That psycho fucker is dead." Both Watson and Joey stare in surprise at Graves. "What?"

Joey grins, "Oh look Georgie, our little girl is all grown up."

Watson chuckles at the look of outrage on Graves' face.

Joey cocks her head, "Shit, that sounds like Dex's car, he must be back with Ruby."

"How did Dex manage to keep Ruby away for so long?" Watson asks Graves.

"You know Dex, he has his ways, though if I were you Joey, I'd warn Charlie before Ruby goes barging in."

"Good idea."

"I thought Ruby would never go to sleep," Charlie says as she lies snuggled in Joey's arms.

Joey thinks back to the way that Ruby had held onto Charlie as if her life depended on it. "I thought she'd be permanently latched onto you."

"I just hope she doesn't start having nightmares again."

"We're here for her Charlie and everyone in this house is here for you."

"I'm ok Joey." She props herself up on her elbow. "You can stop staring at me like I'm going to break."

"I hate seeing you hurt."

"I can handle some bruises as long as I'm alive to be with my daughter and you." She leans down, capturing Joey's mouth, ignoring the pain of her split lip.

"Charlie, we shouldn't."

"Why not?" she says against her mouth, her kisses growing frantic.

"Because you're not ready."

"I am ready, I want you so much Joey." She rears up, her hands starting to remove her nightgown. "I want to feel loved."

"Charlie," Joey says, grabbing Charlie's nightgown and pulling it back down. She raises her hand, gently caressing her face, she kisses her tenderly, avoiding her split lip. "I love you Charlie, but having sex right now is not what you need."

The concern and love she sees in those soulful brown eyes brings Charlie undone. "Oh god, Joey, he nearly raped me."

She pulls Charlie's trembling body into her arms, "It's ok, baby, let it all out."

She holds onto Charlie as she cries, whispering words of love.

"I feel so weak," Charlie says, her tears finally drying.

"You are not weak Charlie." She kisses the top of head. "I am so proud of you Charlie."

"You are?" she raises her head from Joey's chest in surprise.

"You distracted him, prevented him from raping you while you freed yourself. That took guts Charlie, to provoke him like you did." She caresses Charlie's bruised face gently. "Even when he was hitting you, you didn't give up. It was both incredibly brave and strong what you did Charlie."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I could have lost you Charlie," her voice breaking. "And I couldn't bare that."

Charlie kisses her lips softly. "I never want to lose you either Joey. It was our love that got me through this but I still felt so helpless at times."

"If anyone understands what it's like to feel helpless, it's me."

"Your childhood?"

"My mum started in on me before my fifth birthday."

This time, Charlie holds Joey as she finally reveals to her the years of abuse at the hands of her mother and later, what her mother's boyfriend had done to her.

"God," Charlie squeezes her eyes shut at the thought of a child enduring that. "I knew that you were abused, but I had no idea it was that bad."

"I kept it inside until one day I just broke down in front of my foster mother. I never even told my sister until recently."

"I promise Joey, if I'm having trouble, I'll talk to you."

"It doesn't have to be with me Charlie if you need to talk to someone else, and I know it's not easy, but it does help to let it out." She smiles wryly, "I only wish I'd figured that out earlier."

"You are an amazing woman Joey, to have survived that and become the woman you are today." She kisses her again. "And I understand more now, why you find it so hard to be open about things."

"Charlie, I'd like to promise you that I will always be open with you, but I'm not sure if it is a promise I could keep."

"It really is ok Joey, just knowing that you are willing to be as open as you can be." She smiles shyly, "So sex is out tonight?"

Joey chuckles, "I just want to hold you tonight Charlie."

Charlie snuggles closer. "That's all I want to."

"I love you so much Charlie."

"Good, because you are the love of my life Joey," she murmurs, her eye lids suddenly becoming heavier as the day catches up with her.

Thinking of her love for Riley, Joey looks down at the now sleeping Charlie. "Riley, I will always love you and you were right that day, as much as I loved and adored you, you were never the other half of my soul but I have found her Riley and you'd like her." Knowing her heart had finally healed, Joey brushes a strand of hair from Charlie's face, "And you are the love of my life Charlie," Joey whispers.

Next Chapter, Charlie learns the truth.