Charlie rolled onto her back with a heavy sigh. Here she'd been worried about sharing a bed with Joey, well, they'd done more than that, a hell of a lot more. Thankfully though, she'd woken to discover she was alone in the bed, which had been a massive a relief, since she wasn't sure how she could face Joey after last night. What had she been thinking? About getting some, obviously she thought with a roll of the eyes. And why shouldn't she get some after all the shit she'd been through recently? She'd been high strung from all the drama, along with being sexually frustrated and as horny as hell, so she'd found a woman to see to her needs, just like she'd done in the past. Except the women usually weren't someone she had been in charge of protecting, and while that was hardly her role now, the situation they found themselves in, still should have been enough to have made Joey strictly hands off. Instead, it had been very much hands on, along with having her fingers, tongue and mouth all over that body. And what a body it was.

She shook herself as a rush of desire raced through her at the memories of last night and pooled between her legs. Oh god, last night had been the most mindblowing and enjoyable sex she'd ever had. It had lasted well into the night. Where the energy had come from, Charlie had no idea, but neither of them had been able to get enough and when they had finally fallen asleep, it had been without words and in each other's arms. She knew they'd been in each other's arms, because she'd woken during the night to discover Joey spooned against her front, with her arm draped across her hip, her nipples pressed against hers, their legs entwined. Joey's body had felt hot against her own, yet not an uncomfortable sort of heat. Charlie had lain there for some time, trying to figure out what to do. In the end, she'd done nothing, other than close her eyes and drift off to sleep. Then when she'd woken again, that warmth was gone and she was alone.

"Shit," she muttered. Why did the best sex have to have been with entirely the wrong woman, because that's exactly what Joey was, the wrong woman. A woman with secrets, a woman of mystery, a woman who knew how to use her mouth and fingers to draw the most earth shattering orgasms from her wanton body, and still have her wanting more and more. More of Joey's mouth on her nipples, more of her fingers inside her, thrusting as hard and as deep as she could go, never relenting as Joey sucked and fucked her to oblivion and beyond. "Oh fuck," said Charlie to the empty room. After a night of sex and orgasms, surely her body was now satisfied enough, right? But no, she was once more wet between her legs just from the memories, her nipples pert as they imagined Joey's lips and teeth playing with them. It was too much. Charlie's hand cupped her breast as the other sought lower. "Jesus," she gasped at how wet she was. Even when she wasn't here, it seemed as if Joey had command of her body. Charlie found her clit and worked it hard. She wanted release before Joey returned.

Watson stared at herself in the mirror and a stranger stared back. Her hair was now shorter and darker and she'd changed from her usual natural look with makeup, by going for a more liberal, noticeable look, but without going too over the top. Also gone was the uniform. She couldn't afford to draw too much attention to herself now that her face was everywhere, so low key was now the approach. The clothes she'd picked up at the op shop weren't a perfect fit. The pants were loose, while the top was snug. A little too snug. She'd already received the odd lingering leer from a couple of blokes and even one woman, which hadn't been her intention, but hey, if all they were noticing was her chest and not her face, then that was to her advantage.

"God, I hope no one I know sees me in this," she muttered. It definitely wasn't her style, but she had a feeling she was going to have to be altering her appearance even after she caught up with those bitches. Oh well, consider this practice for when she had to disappear for good.

She picked up the keys to her newly purchased second hand car. Like her clothing, she hadn't been picky in her purchase, her only requirement being that it had to have a working air-conditioner. Watson jumped when her phone blared to life. Checking the number, she sighed with relief that it wasn't the Braxtons. They were going to be pissed enough that she was still avoiding their calls. It was a number she did recognise though and she answered a little apprehensively.

"Hey Steph," she said.

"They've started talking to everyone who knows you," Steph said straight away.

"I expected they would," she said. "I'm not worried, those who really know me won't say anything, and the rest can only talk about what I let them believe about me."

"I just thought I'd warn you."

"Thanks," she said. "What about you?" Watson could almost feel the smile she knew was now on the other woman's face.

"They spoke to me earlier," replied Steph. "Of course, I told them the truth, that I only knew you from when you called in requesting information, oh and that I hadn't heard from you in some time."

"I bet you were the picture of innocence."

"Damn right I was," she said. "Man, I should chuck this job in and become an actress."

"All the awards would go to you."

"Absolutely," said Steph. "You just watch yourself now, one slip up and they'll have you."

"Don't worry, I have all the motivation I need to not fuck this up."

Charlie climaxed against her hand, her eyes squeezed shut as her body arched from the bed. The lips on her nipples sent her even higher. The lips on her nipples? Her eyes flew open and met those of last night's lover. So lost in her own pleasuring, she hadn't heard Joey return, hadn't felt her join her on the bed and move over her. It was only when her nipple had been engulfed into the warmth of Joey's mouth, had she felt her. Oh god, she wanted to feel even more than that and she sighed in pleasure when Joey's hand joined hers between her legs. Entwined, their fingers entered her together. Only two, but it was enough, especially when their thumbs rubbed against her clit.

"Oh fuck," panted Charlie, her hips rising and falling against their hands. It didn't take her long at all before she was arching yet again in climax.

"That's what I like to come back to," Joey said, kissing Charlie on the lips. She'd left Charlie's side as quickly as she could that morning, pissed at herself for having allowed last night to happen. The encounter had stirred something inside her that she had spent the morning trying very hard to push down again. This wasn't the time, nor the place to develop anything for this woman, yet all the admonishment she'd been giving to herself that morning, had evaporated the moment when she'd walked through that door and seen Charlie masturbating on the bed they'd shared last night. Without thought, she'd stripped and joined Charlie on the bed.

"This is so wrong," Charlie murmured against Joey's lips.

"So very wrong," agreed Joey as their legs interlocked. They moved together in an easy rhythm, their lips never parting as they thrust against each other. It was unhurried, taking their time. When they came, it was together.

"Do you think it will work?" Dex asked his partner.

"Sorry?" replied Graves, her thoughts still preoccupied by her activities the previous evening. It really had achieved little, except for some general soreness today.

"The media blitz," he said with a nod of his head toward the radio.

"God I hope so," Graves mumbled. Robertson had filled her in on what was behind the media release, and for why he'd left out mentioning Buckton and Collins. She just bloody hoped it worked so she could get back home and to her real job. And away from her temporary partner before she did something dumb.

With her body still glistening in the aftermath from their latest sexual encounter, Joey rolled away from Charlie and off the bed. "I brought us some breakfast," she said as she picked up the items she'd abandoned earlier, along with her clothes. "And this." She tossed the newspaper onto the bed next to Charlie.

"They went public," murmured Charlie.

"Not completely," she said. "They left us out of the loop."

"Why?"

"Who knows," she replied. "Oh, and your mate Nick wasn't mentioned as one of the suspects when they talked about dirty cops."

"That doesn't mean anything," said Charlie. "We don't know how high this goes or how much information they have on others."

"True." She smiled at Charlie. "It's got you thinking though, hasn't it?"

Charlie nodded. "I don't ever want to underestimate him again, but part of me still can't believe Nick is dirty, even after he was behind sending Watson and his own brother-in-law after me," she said. "It's just not the man I knew."

"Not everyone is," said Joey. "And aren't the best dirty cops, those who can successfully fool everyone over a period of time?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she said. "Don't worry, I'm not about to start trusting him or anything like that."

"Good, because right now, the only two people we can trust, is each other."

"Speaking of that," murmured Charlie. "Joey, about what has happened between us since last night."

"What about it?" she said as casually as she could. "You think it was a mistake or something?"

"Don't you?"

"It was just sex Charlie, no big deal," she stated matter-of-factly. "Or aren't you into casual sex?"

"No, I am, I just don't think this was the right situation to be having sex with each other, that's all."

"I wanted sex, you wanted sex, seems like the right situation to have sex to me," she said with a grin she didn't quite feel.

"You know what I meant."

Joey looked at the other woman. "Charlie, we're two women who have been through a lot together, who then found themselves in the moment and so went for it," she said. "It doesn't have to mean anything at all, beyond that we both enjoyed ourselves immensely." She smirked at Charlie and said teasingly, "Or are you going to tell me that you didn't enjoy it."

"Of course I enjoyed it."

"Then there's no problem," she said, except for the rise in feelings she didn't want to deal with. "And hey, look at it this way. After being so intimate with each other, it's going to make posing as girlfriends a breeze."

"Yeah," murmured Charlie. If only it was so easy to ignore the consequences of last night.

"Hey, isn't this the woman that was in here the other day?" Leah's friend and work colleague, Tess asked. "You know, the one who lit up a ciggie."

Leah looked at the paper, her heart thumbing at the familiar face, then she shook her head. "Nah, that woman was prettier and more stockier than this one," Leah said. She still felt guilty for not going through with dobbing her lover in, but only a little. She really had been all set to spill the beans, but the moment the Constable had answered, she'd had a sudden change of heart, and after stumbling over some vague questions about if it was safe in the area after the murder as an excuse for her call, she'd hung up. Fuck doing the right thing. The bastard had tried to rape her and had apparently raped other women, so to her, his death was his just desserts. As for her lover. Well, she'd had no real idea who the woman was when they'd spent the night together, not even a name, and she certainly had no idea where she was going or what she was after, so it wasn't as if there was anything she could tell the cops that would help them to catch her.

"Reading this, she sounds like a right bitch," Tess murmured.

"Don't believe everything you read in the paper," Leah said. "They always embellish everything for maximum effect." She didn't care what they wrote. She owed that woman, first for saving her from being raped, then for showing her what passion really was, which was sadly lacking now that she was back to being the boring wife to an often absent husband. Regardless of that, she'd never forget what that woman had done for her, and in that moment, she swore to herself that she would never reveal their secrets to another soul.