Chapter Nineteen-Part One
It had been twenty minutes since Brooke had woke up and told Joey in Irish that she couldn't feel her legs, Joey had left the room and went to get a nurse, the nurse then paged Doctor Ryan. After waiting another twenty minutes Doctor Ryan arrived in Brooke's room he tried to conduct a examination on Brooke but was unable to do so as Lily Seb and Alexis refused to move from their spots hugging Brooke , Taylor on the other hand moved as soon as the Doctor entered the room, her action didn't go unnoticed by Brooke, Mel and Joey. Once he realized that he wouldn't be able to conduct the examination while everyone was on the bed he politely asked for everyone to leave the room so he could talk to Brooke alone.
As soon as he asked everyone to leave Frankee walked over to Mel picking Olivia out of her arms then almost running out of the room to Joey's surprise but not to Mel and Brooke's they both knew the reason she didn't want to be near Brooke. Seb immediatley crawled carefully to Joey motioning for her to pick him up, which she did as soon as she did Seb rested his head on shoulder burying his head in her neck. Lily did the same as Seb did only she crawled to Mel who did as Joey did, Alexis on the other hand realized Brooke from the hug but instead of exitting the room stood were she was before infront of the bed looking at Brooke. Taylor moved over to Alexis and tried to get her to move but Alexis just shrugged her away saying beginning to rub her hands together "No, Stay with Brooke" Brooke smiled at her "Its ok, Lex, You can come back in after" Alexis looked at Brooke and started shaking her head "No Alexis keep Brooke safe" As she said that Brooke noticed that Alexis was rubbing her hands together, and knowing it meant she was scared of something, "Lexi, its ok I'm fine now nothings gonna happen if you leave" "You said last time" "Yeah I did, but remember I said nothing would happen to you, didn't I" Alexis nodded signalling that she remembered what Brooke said "And has anything happened to you?" Alexis shook her head "So, will you go outside for ten minutes for me" "Brooky Promise" Brooke smiled and said "I Promise NOTHING will happen to me or you" As Brooke completed her sentence Alexis smiled at Brooke and walked towards the door looking at Brooke as she reached the door and upon receiving a smile from Brooke she exitted the room.
Mel Joey and Charlie went to follow the others out of the room, but before they could Brooke spoke causing all of them to stop in their tracks "Could one of you stay please?" she asked her voice showing her fear. "Sure I'll stay, if you don't mind?" Mel almost instantly replied. Joey looked at Brooke then at Mel she knew from previous experience that Mel and Brooke could be enemies one minute and best friends the next, it had always been fasinating for her it was like they couldn't stay away from each other, she always thought of their relationship like hers and Charlie's, like no matter how hard they tried to deny their feelings the less affective their defense against it became. Joey looked at Brooke again trying to see if there was any emotion in her eyes or facial expressions that revealed what she was feeling, and for the first time in her life she couldn't see anything no anger, no desire, no passion, no hatred, no emotion at all. "It's ok Mel, I'll stay with Brooke" Joey said looking at Brooke hoping to see something rise in her "Its ok Joey, Mel can stay you take care of the others" She didn't know why but that name-Joey- coming from Brooke cut her deep, she hadn't been called Joey by Brooke for twenty years since Brooke had first thought of the nickname JoJo.
"Are you sure Brooke?" Joey asked wanting Brooke to change her mind the last thing she wanted was for Brooke to forgive Mel after all she had done to her
"Yeah I'm sure, she's seen everything there is to see so it makes sense"
"Okay" Was what Joey said but it wasn't what she was thinking, what she was thinking was 'No, its far from okay she broke your heart and you pick her over me'
"Joey, Can you take Lily please?" Mel asked then she realized that Joey already had her arms full with Sebastian, looking at Charlie who was still standing behind Joey she asked "Do you mind taking Lily, Charlie?"
Charlie paused looking at Brooke who nodded her approval to Charlie "If she'll let me sure?"
Mel moved from her position at the side of Brooke's bed round to the other side and attempted to hand Lily over to Charlie, Lily however had now gripped onto Mel's shirt holding onto her tightly "Lily its okay, Charlie is Joey's friend" Lily looked at Mel softly said to her
"Me stay with Mel Mel"
"You can later, Mel Mel has to help Brooke get better so she can play again ok, But I'm sure Charlie can take you for a hot chocolate if that will make you feel better" She said knowing that Lily NEVER said No to Hot Chocolate since the day she first tried it, it had become her favorite drink
Lily looked at Charlie then at Joey, after a second she looked down at Seb who had removed his head from Joey's shoulder upon hearing the words Hot Chocolate and was now looking at Mel, she shouted out 'Seb' getting his attention and then they began to talk in what sounded like jibberish to everyone, Joey and Brooke had knick named it Twin Talk as they were always doing it, and every time they looked like they were in a deep serious conversation. After a few minutes and many arms raised and waved in the air on both their parts Lily looked up at Mel and said "Seb chocolate too" As if negotiating with Mel,
"Um Sure if Charlie doesn't mind Joey and Seb tagging along" Mel looked at Charlie her expression saying 'play along with it'
"I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem but your buying deal?" She said reaching her hand out to Lily looked at Seb who nodded at her she then gripped one of Charlie's fingers and shook it up and down
"Dwal" She said smiling sweetly at Charlie "Bye Bye Mel Mel" She said turning and giving Mel a kiss on the cheek then reaching her arms out to Charlie
"Bye Bye Lily" Mel replied giving Lily a gentle kiss on her cheek then handing her over to Charlie
"Well, I'm gonna go with them. I'll take Alexis and Taylor with me too" Joey said looking at Brooke then at Charlie for her approval
"K, Thanks Jo" Brooke replied truly thankful to Joey
"Sorry, but I really must do the examination" Doctor Ryan said trying to sound as polite as possible
"Sorry Doctor, We're going now" Joey said looking at Charlie then moving quickly to the door "I'll be back in a while Brooke, see you soon"
"Ok, see you in a bit Jo"
Charlie and Joey exited the room with Lily and Sebastian, as the door shut Mel moved back to where she was standing before reaching for Brooke's hand she thought again, she knew holding Brooke's hand when she was asleep or in a comatose state was different, Brooke couldn't do what Mel feared the most...reject her.
Meanwhile out in the hallway Charlie looked down at Lily who was still smiling up at her, the more she looked at the younger girl the more she could see a mix of Brooke and Joey in her. She had Brooke's light brown/brunette hair and her chin and ears where shaped the same as Brooke's (from what Charlie could remember anyway) And she had the same coloured eyes as Joey as well as the same shaped eyebrow and cheeks as Joey. She quickly snapped herself out of the trance like state she was in. As she did so she looked over at Joey who was now standing next to Frankee who was sending Charlie a look as if warning her not to try anything on with Joey as much as the look was un-nerving to Charlie she could see there was something wrong with Joey the way she was standing her body language towards Frankee and the others even the look in her eyes was distant
After a few minutes of debating to herself what to do, Charlie walked over to Joey and the others, as she stopped just in front of them Alexis waved at Charlie smiling broadly at her, Charlie waved back at Alexis smiling brightly at her, she then noticed that Olivia was looking up at her with a look of wonder in her face, as she looked around trying to find a reason for the wonderous look on Olivias face she remembered that she was still wearing her uniform and her radio light was flashing red indiacting her radio was almost out of battery, she turned it off with her free hand then smiling down at Olivia who she was relieved to see was now smiling back at her after a few seconds of silence she finally managed to think of something to say;
"Jo, I'm gonna take this little one to get a hot chocolate like I promised, but I also said you and Seb would come along so...?" She asked nervously as she ignored the evil look that Frankee was sending her way
"You don't have to do that it was just a distraction thing we do with Lily" Joey replied looking at Charlie slightly suprised that Charlie was willing to take time out of her work shift
"Actually I have to its the police officers code when we shake hands or fingers on something we always follow through on it"
"Police Officers code" Joey couldn't help but laugh a little at Charlie's explanation "Is that your way of saying you want a hot chocolate?"
"You know me to well Jo" Charlie cheekily replied
"Maybe..." Joey couldn't help but smile at Charlie's cheeky reply even though she knew Frankee wouldn't be very happy about the comment "Is the cafe here still open?"
"Yeah its open twenty four hours"
"Well that's handy...Should we go get these two a hot chocolate then?"
"Sure thing" Charlie quickly responded
As they were about to leave Frankee stood up gently grabbing Joey's wrist "What about the rest of us?"
"Alexis can't drink Hot Chocolate because she gets to hyper and Olivia can't because she's to young but they can still come with us"
"What about Taylor?"
"She can come if she wants?"
"Well how do you know if you don't ask?"
Not wanting to get into another arguement with Frankee, especially with Charlie watching Joey turned in the direction of Taylor and asked not "Would you like to come get a Hot Chocolate with us?"
"No thanks I'm gonna go outside" Taylor responded
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I just need sometime alone, you know?" She explained hoping Joey would understand
"Of course I do, don't be too long and be careful" Gently pulling her wrist out of Frankee's grip she moved towards Taylor and moved into a hug as she hugged Taylor she could feel ow tense she was pulling back and looking her dead in the eyes she asked "Are you sure you don't wanna come alone we could have a chat?"
"I'm sure I just need sometime to think and process things"
"Okay, but if you need to talk I'm here ok?" Joey said as they both pulled out of the hug
Taylor nodded in reply then turned around and walked out of the hosptial doors out of the view of the others as her figure disappears into the darkness of the night.
Joey sighed to herself knowing something was wrong with Taylor but that she couldn't do anything about it until Taylor opened up to her and that could be a long time, She turned so she was facing Frankee,
"Can I go know?" She almost sarcastically asked her
"There's no need to talk to me like that Joey" Frankee replied suprised by the tone of Joey's voice, though she was the only one at Joey's tone
"Do you have to speak to people the way you do?" Joey sharply replied, which got her a very angry from Frankee, who grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side so nobody could here what they were saying
"What the hell is that meant to mean?"
"You know exactly what the means" When Frankee looked at her dumbfounded she explained "Alexis"
"This is about me shouting at her for not being quiet"
"Yes this is about that, you don't have a right to shout at here, even if she was in the wrong which by the way she wasn't"
"She was being to loud"
"She was upset, you know how much she loves Brooke"
"Yeah but she wouldn't be quiet when I asked politely you saw"
"Yeah I did, I saw her trying to wake Brooke up and not understanding why she wouldn't, you should know by now that she doesn't understand things like everyone else"
"I do understand"
"Then why do you think it was ok to shout at her like that?"
"I don't"
"Then why did you?"
"I don't know someone had to calm her down"
"Maybe, but that's not your place"
"What do you mean? I have more of a right than you" Frankee snapped back
"You know what I mean and how exactly do you have more of a right than me Alexis is my family?"
"I've been there for them more than you have over the years Joey and you know it"
"Your kinding right, is that why Alexis doesn't listen to you and Olivia is so scared of you she cries when you hold her"
"So none of that changes the fact that I've been more involved in their lives than you have"
"You know Brooke told me about this but I never really believed her"
"Brooke told you about what?"
"About your always playing top trumps with people"
"Thats not what I'm doing all I'm doing is telling the truth"
"No your telling your truth, If you were telling the truth you would have mentioned the fact that I learned to speak two different languages because Taylor wanted help with Spanish at school"
"Well all hale Princess Joey, So what you learnt a different language to help her study thats no biggie"
"Look just because I didn't live in England with them doesn't mean we weren't close, because lets face it me and Brooke are closer than you and her will ever be"
"Well thats because your family"
"No its not its because we are alike we always have been and always will be, I think deep down your jealous of that because you know I'll never love you more than her" Joey took a deep breathe in and turned to look at Charlie who looked liked she was ready to beat the hell out of Frankee "I mean this all comes down to your insecurities with yourself I mean you even banned me from seeing Charlie like I'm your property, Well I'm not and quite frankly I don't know if I even want to be your girlfriend at this moment in time. Now if you don't mind I'm gonna take MY family to the cafe" With that Joey placed Seb on the floor so he could walk and then picked Olivia up from the seat Frankee had stupidly placed her on. Then signalled to Alexis to walk with her she turned around and walked towards Charlie not giving Frankee a chance to explain or caring what she had to say
In the Cafe
They all arrived in the cafe after looking around they found a spot big enough to sit them all and walked over, Joey sat Seb on one of chairs telling him to be careful not to fall and then went and got a high chair for Olivia placing her in it and then pulling it close to her, Charlie sat opposite Joey and placed Lily on the chair next to her but then noticed that Alexis wanted to sit there she place Lily on her lap, which didn't seem to bother the little girl who just sat forward and began playing with the sugar shaker pushing it to Seb then laughing, then doing the same when Seb pushed the shaker back and laughed as well. After a few minutes of silence Charlie decided to break the silence
"So how are you feeling Jo?" Charlie asked having witnessed the arguement between Frankee and Joey and also noticing that Joey was being quiet which was unlike the Joey she knew the bubbly chatty Joey who if nothing else loved to talk about everything boat related
"I'm ok thanks" Joey replied trying her hardest to fake a smile
"You know your a rubbish liar Jo, How are you really?"
"Honestly" She replied almost asking Charlie if she wanted to know the answer, when Charlie nodded she continued "I'm conflicted I guess"
"How so?" Charlie asked confused by Joey statement
"I feel happy but angry at the same time"
"Why are you angry?"
"Because she choose Mel over me" Joey said lowering her head
"How did she choose Mel over you?" Charlie asked slightly confused
"She wanted Mel in there with the doctor and not me"
"I'm sure she didn't mean to upset you"
"I know she didn't but doesn't change the fact she did"
"Maybe she's trying to protect you"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, Her and Mel broke up right so maybe she'd rather her ex be upset by the sight if her injuries than you...her family"
"Maybe but...Maybe your right"
"Maybe" Charlie paused seeing a look of uncertainty in Joeys eyes "Maybe you should tell her how you feel how she upset you felt by her choosing Mel" Joey smiled broadly at her causing Charlie to ask "Why the big smile?"
"Just you're still looking out for me"
"Always" Charlie paused swallowing as the lump in her throat got big, even just talking to Joey calmly about something like this made her stomach do somersaults "We should get these hot chocolates"
"Yeah we should otherwise we may have world war three on our hands"
"I'll go" Charlie said getting up and placing Lily on the chair she had been sitting in then quickly walking over to the counter and ordering Four Hot Chocolates and two glasses of Milk for Olivia and Alexis so they didn't feel left out once she had ordered and paid for the drinks she stood at the counter tapping her foot partly because she didn't like waiting around and partly because she was nervous about talking to Joey she didn't know why but she couldn't help but flirt with Joey it was so natural but the most confusing thing was that Joey seemed to be flirting back with her and the worst thing about that was that Charlie didn't even whether that meant Joey still had feelings for or if she was flirting unintentionally with her. She was disturbed from her thoughts when the woman at the counter handed her the tray of drinks and she made her way over to the Joey and the kids.
"Yay, Choca Chocolate" Lily loudly shouted as Charlie reached the table placing the tray down as she went sit down Charlie couldn't help but smile when Lily reached her hands up to Charlie indicating that she wanted to sit on Charlie lap again, Charlie happily picked the little girl up then sat down placing her on her lap
Joey began placing the hot chocolates in front of everyone telling Lily and Seb not to drink theirs yet as it was too hot after she placed the last cup in front of Charlie she looked at the glasses of milk and looked up quizzingly at Charlie "Who are the milks for?"
"Alexis and Olivia, I didn't know if they drink orange or apple juice so I got Milk cause everyone loves milk"
"You didn't have to do that Charlie" Joey replied uncontrollably smiling at Charlie
"Well I didn't want them to feel left out"
"Thank you" Joey said placing one glass in front of Alexis and then placing Olivia's in front of her so the little girl didn't hurt herself on the glass
"You're more than welcome"
"What do you say Alexis?" Joey asked her
"Thank you Charlie Buckton" Alexis said smiling at Charlie then sipping at her drink
"Drik now Jojo?" Seb asked looking up at Joey then looking at his cup waiting for approval to drink it
"Not yet Seb it's still hot" Joey said placing her hand on Seb's head and ruffling his hair causing him to giggle at her action
"Make cold milk" Alexis said looking at the cup
"What was that Lexi?"
"Milk makes it cold" She said pushing her glass forward as if offering it to cool the drinks of her younger siblings
"Are you sure Lexi?" When Alexis nodded at her Joey poured some of her milk into Seb's cup then giving the glass back to Alexis
"Now Lily" Alexis said pushing the glass back to Joey
"It's ok Lily can have some of Olivia's, but thank you for offering"
"Thank you" Seb said smiling at Alexis
"You're welcome" Alexis said then continuing to drink her milk
After a few minutes silence Charlie again broke the silence "So what was the argument with Frankee about?"
"Nothing just Frankee being Frankee" As Joey said that she noticed the Charlie raising her eyebrows at the statement "What's with the eyebrows?"
"Nothing just I don't know how you can be with someone who speaks to you like that"
"She's not always like that she's normally loving and caring"
"I still don't get how you got together"
"I told you just happened one night then it lead from there"
"Just she doesn't seem like your type" Giving Joey a flirtatious smile
"I have a type do I?" Raising her eyebrows at Charlie and returning her flirtatious smile
"You know what I mean she seems a bit angry"
"Like I said, she's not normally like that"
"Sorry I still don't get it"
"You're not the only one"
"Brooke?"
"Yeah, like I told you she completely flipped out"
"You never said why she flipped so badly"
"I don't really know..."
"Maybe if you tell me what happen when she found out we can work it out together"
"I don't think that's a smart thing to do Charlie"
"Why not because she used to date, you can still talk to me as a friend"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, so get to telling the story then..."