Dedicated to Movie249, as promised! Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter One Hundred and Forty

Charlie arrived home from work later than planned and walked in just as Leah was walking out, dressed to the nines for her date with Robertson. Wishing her luck, Charlie headed on through to the lounge and found Joey and Ruby looked very serious on the sofa.

"Hey, guys," Charlie said cheerfully, coming to sit beside Joey and give her a kiss on her cheek.

Noticing the tension, she asked what was wrong.

"Nothing," Ruby said. "I just had a bit of an altercation with Hugo today."

"Hugo?"

Ruby nodded.

"But it's fine," she said. "Joey sorted it. She warned him away."

Charlie was torn between feeling proud of her girlfriend and worried. Having got more involved in Angelo's case, she was learning that the seemingly innocent dive instructor was a bad man to mess with.

"Are you both okay?" she asked worriedly.

Joey snuggled against her, feeling drained but assuring her that they were fine. Ruby nodded her agreement and then announced she needed the bathroom. Alone with Joey, Charlie cupped her face and gazed into her eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked.

"I promise," Joey said. "He was just hassling Ruby because he thinks she's making Xavier lie about the alibi. But it's alright. I think I scared him off for a bit."

Charlie nodded.

"Maybe we shouldn't go out for dinner tonight though," Joey said. "Ruby was more shaken up than she's letting on. We should be there for her."

"Let's take her with us," Charlie suggested.

She really wanted to do something nice for Joey, now more than ever. And the more time she got to spend with her daughter these days, the happier she was. All she could hope was that through everything, they were finally getting closer again.


Angelo headed out to the Surf Club to get a drink. Aside from his disappointment over the dodgy dealings earlier that day being nothing to do with the case, he was feeling pleased with himself. Not only was he moving with the case at last, getting his bosses at least temporarily off his back, but he had Charlie almost at his disposal. He could just picture long nights out with her, chasing after the bad guys and incessantly being in each other's company. That's how things had first started between them, after all. They'd spent time together at work, got along and once they'd thrown in some booze, things had gone from there. To be fair, Charlie had been single at the time. She wasn't now but with Joey potentially facing criminal charges, he doubted they would be together for that long. If jail didn't break them up, then the stress would. And hopefully, if Charlie was spending all her time with him instead of her girlfriend, he might get the chance to show her that he was the one she was meant to be with.

"What can I get you?" Alf asked.

"A beer please," Angelo said. "And one for yourself."

Alf paused for a moment and then thanked him. Things had calmed down around the cop's presence in the Bay but with Martha being his granddaughter, Alf still wasn't entirely sure about being too friendly with him. He wanted to forgive and forget and it helped that Martha was beginning to move on with Hugo. But Angelo had still killed Jack and, worse than that, he had lied about it and not been punished.

"How's your day been?" Angelo asked, making a bid for conversation.

Alf set two beers down in front of them and accepted Angelo's cash.

"Yeah, it's been pretty good," he said. "And yours?"

"Busy," Angelo said, glad that he seemed to be accepting friendship. "But pretty good."

He smiled, thinking again of Charlie. He was sure he'd seen a spark there.


At the restaurant, Charlie, Joey and Ruby were focussing on having a good time. The food was tasty and it was nice to have fun together and not be thinking or talking about the murder case.

"So, you helped Martha with her campaign, did you?" Ruby asked.

"Not really," Joey said vaguely. "I just encouraged her not to back down just because John was playing dirty."

Charlie smiled proudly and told her not to play things down.

"You came up with the slogan!" she announced.

"Did you? The 'nothing to hide' thing? That was really good, Joey."

The skipper blushed and sipped her wine shyly. Charlie gazed lovingly at her, thinking that she got more adorable by the second. Ruby laughed and shook her head.

"You know, I'll hold my hand up and say that I was shocked when the two of you told me you were an item," the teenager said. "And I did wonder if it was a crush or friendship gone too far or something like that but I can honestly say that I have never known two people so perfect for each other."

Charlie and Joey both smiled, automatically reaching out to hold hands.

"I mean, obviously I've known Charlie my whole life," Ruby continued. "And I've seen her date all kinds of people – usually idiots who didn't deserve her."

Charlie looked down.

"She's dated cheaters, control freaks... horrible, horrible people. Then there was Roman who treated her so badly and ignored her. And I don't think we need to go into the Angelo thing. But you, Joey, you're the best thing that's ever happened to Charlie. She's never got past the six month mark with anyone before," Ruby said.

"Rubes..." Charlie cringed.

Joey already knew that their approaching seventh month anniversary was the first one of its kind she had reached with a partner but still, Charlie didn't feeling they needed reminding that she was hopeless at relationships.

"It makes me feel special," Joey teased, not that she had really had much more success that Charlie had.
She'd dated a few girls here and there but conducting a long term relationship when you were hiding in the closet certainly was no easy task.

"Anyway, what I'm saying is that I'm happy for you," Ruby concluded. "I'm glad that you make each other so happy and that you've stayed strong through everything you've faced together. Between what happened to Joey, and both of you struggling to come out, Brett's allegations and Angelo coming back to cause trouble and now all the... stuff... you've always held onto each other. I'm proud of you. I love you. Both of you."

She smiled at them. Charlie leant forward and hugged her.

"We love you too," she confirmed. "We love you so much."

Joey hugged her too, confirming that she agreed with her partner and she hoped that they would all get through everything together.


"Hello, love!" Alf said cheerfully when Rachel arrived in the Surf Club with Tony and Harry.

The Doctor had been away at a retreat, trying to get herself together after a surprising struggle with motherhood. But she definitely looked healthier and happier.

"Hi, Alf," she greeted warmly. "Angelo."

Angelo studied his drink as her face fell a little and Tony didn't look at him. They might have called peace between them but they would never be friends.

"Could we get a beer and an orange juice please, Alf?" Tony asked.

"I'll bring it over," the barman said.


"So, Annie and Jai are running in competition for the trip to Japan?" Charlie asked.

It was nice to sit and talk to her daughter about every day, normal things, the way they used to. Things felt like they were finally starting to heal properly.

"Yeah," Ruby said. "They're both the best students so..."

She sighed, not really wanting either of her friends to disappear on her, especially at a time like this. But she supposed she had Xavier and she knew she had Geoff.

"I don't want them to go but I think it will at least diffuse this Romeo situation," Ruby said.

Both Charlie and Joey looked confused.

"There's a Romeo situation?" Charlie asked.

"Which one is Romeo again?" Joey asked.

"The boy who hit on you," Charlie said quickly.

Ruby and Joey laughed at her pout.

"Oh yeah," Joey said. "I remember."

Charlie continued to sulk. Joey leant over and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Sweetheart, I don't think there's a risk of me running off with him," she said with a grin.

"What about Martha?" Charlie teased.

"Or with her," Joey promised. "Whether you like it or not, you are definitely my one and only."

Charlie beamed at her.

"I like it," she said.


The Surf Club turned around unashamedly as Rachel stood up, yelling at her husband. Angelo paused on his bar stool, wondering if he ought to intervene or leave them to it. The latter was more appealing. Shouting something about going back to work, Rachel put Harry in his pushchair and stormed out, leaving Tony looking helpless.


Charlie drove Joey and Ruby home. They'd had a nice evening and Charlie felt more connected with her family as a unit than she had in a while. She wasn't entirely sure where her relationship with Ruby was leading – whether they would ever attempt to be mother and daughter, or if they would try and get back to being siblings – but their current closeness made her happy.

"Well, I'm off to bed," Ruby said.

She hugged them both goodnight and was about to head up to her room when the door opened again and Leah glided in looking to be in full swoon. Putting her arm around Charlie, Joey smirked.

"Someone had a good date," she remarked.

Leah blushed. She felt a little awkward to be dating a man threatening to put at least Joey in jail, if not Charlie too. But she couldn't deny that she felt happy.

"I know you guys don't like him but I think he's amazing," she admitted.

Charlie and Joey giggled. They didn't like him at all but they also understood that he had a job to do and while the current placement of the evidence and where it was pointing was wrong, they couldn't blame the Detective.

"Did you get a kiss goodnight?" Ruby smirked.

Leah's blush told them all they needed to know. Ruby laughed and shook her head, wondering why she was the only one who wasn't happy in her romance. Announcing that she was off to bed again, she disappeared.

"We're going to bed too," Charlie told Leah, wishing her goodnight and tugging on Joey's hand.


Watson arrived home much later than she'd meant to and her mother wasn't terribly impressed at having to wait up. Watson had pointed out as patiently as possible that she hadn't needed to but her Mum said that she couldn't possibly have gone to sleep without locking up the door. Watson apologised and hugged her, checking she had everything she needed before bed. Then she headed up to her own room, exhausted from a day, including overtime, of trying to find any loophole in the Bledcoe file that could indicate that Joey Collins wasn't a killer.


Once they were in their room with the door shut, Charlie and Joey fell into each other's arms. Charlie pressed Joey gently but firmly up against the door, kissing her and letting her hands run over her body. She pressed her lips against Joey's neck and smiled at Joey pulled her closer, hooking her leg over Charlie's hip. After several delicious moments, they fumbled their way to the bed, still kissing. It was going to be a wonderful night.