This chapter is especially for jsco81 and ttandme69. Love, IJKS xxx
Chapter One Hundred and Sixty
When Charlie arrived home from work, she found Joey on her laptop looking rather pleased with herself.
"Not doing anything you shouldn't be, are you?" Charlie teased, creeping up behind her partner and making her jump.
Joey giggled and closed the laptop, turning around to give Charlie a proper kiss.
"Well?" Charlie said.
"I've just booked us a romantic weekend away in the city," Joey said proudly.
"Have you?" Charlie said, pleasantly surprised.
"Yeah," Joey said, pulling her girlfriend onto her lap. "I figured I'd treat you while I still have a job."
Charlie stroked her face and kissed her lips.
"Let's just hope that as you haven't heard anything about that, John will forget the whole thing and let you keep your mooring or whatever it's called!"
Joey grinned. She very much hoped that that was the case.
"So, we get a nice weekend away?" Charlie asked eagerly.
Joey nodded.
"Well, uh, I don't know if you remembered and it's kind of silly but um... we've just come up to our seventh month anniversary," she said with a blush. "So, I thought it would be nice to..."
"I remembered," Charlie said. "I was worried you'd think I was silly for wanting to celebrate."
"I was worried about the same thing!" Joey admitted. "I just... haven't done this before."
She looked down and studied her hands.
"Nor have I," Charlie said. "I've never even made it to six months. And now we're at seven and I'm... well, I'm thinking about things to do for our year anniversary and stuff like that. Is that... is that too much?"
"Definitely not too much," Joey said affectionately, kissing her again. "Who would ever have thought that you and I would be living the happy lesbian cliché?"
The following day, Charlie was eager to get out of work as quickly as possible. She and Joey were heading out to the city and Charlie did not want to waste a single moment. They'd cleared it all with Ruby who had assured them that she would be fine without them and Leah had promised to keep an eye on the youngest Buckton.
"You look chipper," Angelo commented, appearing in the Senior Constable's office.
"I'm going away for the weekend," Charlie said cheerfully.
"Oh really?"
Angelo's heart sank.
"Yeah," Charlie grinned. "Joey booked us a hotel in the city for our seventh month anniversary."
Her friend snorted. She glared at him. He quickly apologised.
"What's so funny?"
"Just... who celebrates a seventh month anniversary?" Angelo asked. "I mean... it's so random. Do you celebrate every month?"
"We did one month and six months," Charlie explained, packing her stuff up the moment the clock hit five o'clock. "And we note it every month but... to be honest, after everything that's gone on over the last few months, we need the break."
She smiled and switched off her computer.
"It's just..." Angelo began awkwardly.
Then Charlie's heart sank.
"I had a tip off," Angelo explained. "I think we might actually get to catch Hugo in the act tonight."
"Really?" Charlie said.
"Yeah. If you're up for helping?"
"On any other day I would," Charlie said. "But not this weekend. Sorry."
She brushed past him and into the reception area, saying goodbye to Watson as she left. Angelo frowned. Still, at least he hadn't been caught out in the big fat lie he'd just told. He wondered if Charlie would ever catch on that some of these tip offs he got were faked in order to spend time with her.
Leah allowed Geoff to come round for the evening but she was adamant, under Charlie's instruction, that their guest left at ten o'clock and under no circumstances was he allowed to stay the night. The teenagers had agreed and Geoff had made some bumbling and inappropriate explanation about how they weren't at that stage yet anyway. Ruby had cringed terribly and amused, Leah had left them to it.
"What kind of DVD are you up for?" Ruby asked, gesturing for Geoff to rummage through her collection.
They had sneaked off to her bedroom to watch a film in there and to kiss and cuddle in peace.
"I can't believe you got the same hotel room as we had before," Charlie said, still smiling.
This was the very room that she and Joey had made love in for the first time. It brought back a lot of special memories. Beaming at her girlfriend, Charlie pulled Joey into her arms. They tumbled back on the bed together, seeking out each other's lips. Charlie ran her hands through Joey's hair, pulling her ever closer. Breathlessly, they began to tear at each other's clothes. It was only a matter of seconds before they were both undressed and struggling for control of the situation. Charlie laughed as Joey growled playfully and flipped her onto her back.
"I like it when you're bossy," Charlie smirked, kissing Joey again.
She flipped them back, making Joey giggle and bury her lips against Charlie's neck.
"And I love it when you misbehave."
Charlie closed her eyes and relished Joey's touch.
"This is definitely going to be an amazing weekend," she decided.
Joey flipped them again. They tumbled in a heap onto the floor.
Ten o'clock rolled around and Geoff reluctantly left Ruby's house and headed on home. Aden had offered, he suspected under duress, for Geoff to move in with him while Irene and Annie were away but he had declined. He didn't want to leave Irene's house vacant and vulnerable. But he did miss the company and he wished Ruby could move in with him. However, he did understand Charlie's reservations about them living together. While he knew that he had only the best of intentions with Ruby and he would never hurt or take advantage of her, Charlie saw him as 'the boyfriend' now and she was understandably protective of her daughter.
"The bath's ready!" Joey called from the en suite bathroom.
Charlie appeared in her bathrobe and wrapped her arms around Joey's waist as she bent over the bath to test the water. Joey straightened up and leant back against Charlie, closing her eyes and enjoying just standing there in her embrace. They'd had a lovely night so far, having made love on the floor and then on the bed a couple of times. Then they'd ordered room service with a cheeky bottle of champagne.
"I'll just bring the glasses," Charlie said.
She left Joey and grabbed everything she needed from the room, returning just in time to admire Joey as she slipped out of her robe and into the water. Joey enjoyed the warmth of the water and leant back in the bath, watching Charlie as she popped the champagne cork and poured the liquid into glasses. With their drinks, Charlie stripped off and got into the water too.
"Happy seven months," Joey said, proposing a toast.
Charlie clinked her glass gently against Joey's and they both took a sip before leaning in for more kisses.
Once Leah was safely in bed, Ruby threw her dressing gown off to reveal that she was still dressed beneath it. Putting her shoes on, she tiptoed outside and towards Geoff's house. The lights were off when she approached but she knocked anyway. After a few moments, a sleepy and half naked Geoff appeared.
"Rubes!" he said, surprised and delighted. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm behaving badly," Ruby grinned.
She dashed inside and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend.
"Have you got all your insulin and everything with you?" Geoff worried. "I mean, it's important."
"Geoff!" Ruby snapped. "Can't you just enjoy being spontaneous for once?"
He looked unsure.
"Look, if you don't want me to spend the night here..." the teenager said, heading for the door.
"I do!" Geoff said quickly. "I just... worry. Because... you know because of the diabetes and..."
Ruby sank into a chair and sighed heavily. Geoff came to sit beside her.
"Has my diagnosis changed how you feel about me?" Ruby asked. "Tell me honestly."
"What are you talking about?" Geoff said incredulously. "Ruby... I love you."
Ruby looked startled for a moment but then smiled.
"I love you too," she said with a smile.
He smiled back.
"But you've been behaving strangely ever since I was in hospital," Ruby said gently.
"I'm just worried about you," Geoff said.
"I know but I can't cope with you fussing like this. I have enough to deal with when it comes to Charlie."
"But what if you get sick again?" Geoff said. "I don't want to do anything that would..."
"You won't," Ruby said confidently. "Please just let me deal with this in my own way. It's my condition. My situation. For my part, I promise I'll look after myself. And I promise I'll be open about my feelings. But I need you to promise that you'll be my boyfriend and not my carer."
Geoff gazed lovingly at each other.
"I promise," he said, leaning in to kiss her.
Joey surfaced from beneath the blankets. Both she and Charlie were gasping. Charlie clutched Joey to her and Joey happily rested against her heaving breasts. Charlie stroked her hair.
"Falling in love with you was the best thing that ever happened to me," she breathed.
Next time... Martha takes care of Bambang, Joey discovers that Ruby stayed over at Geoff's house and Angelo continues to want to be with Charlie...
