Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Three

The following morning, Joey was cooking a hearty breakfast when the rest of the family trooped in. VJ was immediately excited. Leah feigned offence at the way her son seemed to prefer Joey's cooking, bearing in mind that Leah cooked for a living.

"Well, maybe Joey will be doing that soon too!" Ruby remarked.

Joey blanched.

"Where did you hear that?" Charlie asked, sitting down and pouring coffee for the three adults.

"It's not just the overly loud sex I overhear, you know," her daughter remarked cheekily.

"Rubes!" Joey squeaked, aware of VJ's presence.

"It's okay," VJ said. "Mum already gave me the talk."

Everyone stared at his innocent but confident expression for a moment before continuing with settling down for breakfast. Joey put plates in front of everyone while Leah asked what Ruby's comment had been about.

"I was thinking of going back to college," Joey explained, sitting down with her own meal. "Finishing the catering course I took."

"You're not going to set up a rival business, are you?" Leah asked with mock concern.

"No! I swear!" Joey said.

Even if she did follow Charlie's idea, opening her own restaurant was a long shot. And she would certainly make it as different to the Diner as possible so that she didn't steal trade.

"So, you're really thinking about it?" Ruby asked. "Going back to college?"

"Well, my first priority is to get a new job but yeah, I'm considering it. Even if it doesn't amount to anything, it'd be nice to finish what I started. I don't like to leave things undone."


Nicole arrived at the house early in order to make a special breakfast for Liam and apologise for standing him up the night before. Aden remained in his room, nursing a bit of a hangover and generally not wanting to get involved in their domestic. He hadn't quite decided if he wanted things to work out for them or not.


Leah took a rather unwilling VJ to school. She'd promised to discuss the situation further if the bullying continued but with the staff now aware of what was going on, she hoped things would die down. Now she just wished there was something she could do to help Miles. She felt terribly responsible for him getting into trouble. He had only been trying to help VJ after all.

"Okay, I'm heading to work," Charlie said at the last possible minute.

It was strange, really. Once upon a time she had lived for her job and while she still cared greatly about it, she had more in her life. She had a happy home to come back to and a girlfriend who made her feel more special than she ever had in her life.

"Have fun catching the bad guys," Joey grinned, kissing her goodbye.

"Always do," Charlie smirked, heading out of the house.

Joey set about doing the dishes.


Ruby's English lesson had been cancelled due to Miles being suspended and the school not having quite enough staff to replace him. With a free period due after that, Ruby decided that she might as well go home. Now, she sat in the lounge with Nicole who had phoned her a little fretfully earlier in the day. Just as the girls were about to settle down and analyse their love lives, Joey appeared from the garden.

"Aren't you meant to be in school?" she asked her step-daughter.

Ruby quickly explained. Joey decided to leave them to it.

"Can you stay?" Nicole suddenly asked.

Curious, Joey came to sit down with them, asking what was wrong.

"I just need advice from someone older and wiser," the blonde explained.

Joey cleared her throat.

"But still very young and therefore in touch with what the average eighteen year old might be going through," Nicole added quickly.

Joey grinned and sat back in her chair.

"That's more like it. How old do you think I am anyway?" she asked.

"I don't know, thirty?"

Joey looked horrified. Nicole looked panicked. Ruby laughed.

"Not thirty!" Nicole backtracked. "Younger than thirty. Like... um... Well, Charlie's thirty, isn't she?"

"And she has a younger woman!" Joey said firmly.

"Joey can't be thirty," Ruby said mildly. "Because when it's her thirtieth birthday Charlie's going to..."

She trailed off, realising she had said too much.

"Charlie's going to what?" Joey asked.

"To... um..."

"If 'dump her' is the end of that sentence, I'm going to kill myself," Joey warned.

Ruby laughed and shook her head.

"Definitely not," she said. "She's just planned your present already. That's all."

"Okay," Joey said, smiling broadly and making a mental note to discuss it later. "So, what's up?"


"I think we need to do some surveillance of the farm," Angelo decided, waltzing into Charlie's office.

"Really?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and dropping her pen.

He nodded and sat down.

"I saw Hugo down at the docks this morning and he's looking pretty strung out."

"Have you ever tried to look after a child who doesn't speak English?" Charlie asked.

Angelo shook his head, utterly determined that Hugo was up to something.

"He's on the edge, Charlie," he insisted. "He's going to make a mistake any day now and we have to be there when he does."

Sighing, Charlie agreed.


"Okay," Joey paraphrased. "So, you stood Liam up last night and although you made up this morning, he told you that the reason he was so upset was because he thought last night might be 'the night'."

Nicole nodded and chewed her lip.

"But you don't feel ready?" Joey checked.

"I don't know," Nicole admitted. "I mean, I should be, shouldn't I? Liam's a nice guy and it's not like we haven't done it before."

Joey chose not to react.

"And I've slept with other guys," Nicole said. "But I just... I don't know. What should I do?"

Joey pondered the question.

"I'm not sure I'm really the right person to answer that question," she said.

"Well, how did you know when you were ready?" Ruby asked, thinking of Geoff.

"Okay, you realise that whenever I talk about sex, I'm thinking of your mother, right?" Joey remarked.

Ruby pulled a face and began to agree that the discussion was a bad idea.

"But you've slept with other people, right?" Nicole interrupted.

Joey nodded.

"I had a few relationships before I met Charlie," she said. "Nothing special though."

"So, what do you think about me and Liam? Should I go for it or...?"

"Okay, honestly? I think you should only sleep with someone if you love them," Joey said. "If you think that they could be the last person you'll ever sleep with, the person you'll spend the rest of your life with, then it's probably right. But if you think they're just going to be another temporary partner, if they're not 'the one' then it's not a good idea, especially not at your age."

Nicole nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you think you should only ever be with one person?" Ruby asked, suddenly feeling insecure. "Because if that's true then I've totally screwed up."

"No," Joey said quickly. "When you and Xavier were together, you thought it was forever, didn't you?"

Ruby nodded.

"It doesn't have to turn out to be true," Joey said. "But I think it's important that you're thinking about the long term commitment when you make that kind of decision. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Yeah," Nicole said thoughtfully. "I'm not going to sleep with Liam."

Joey smiled, pleased that she had helped, if a little reluctantly.

"And I am going to sleep with Geoff," Ruby decided.

"What?" Joey squeaked.

Charlie was going to kill her.


Down at the docks, Geoff ran into Aden. He shoved his hands in his pockets, asking how the job hunt was going.

"Pretty poorly," Aden admitted. "Nobody seems to be taking anyone new on at the moment."

Geoff nodded. He'd had much the same response and he figured that if one of the local trawlers were to employ a new crew member, it would be Aden. He had more experience after all.

"Want to go for a coffee?" Aden asked.


"No, no, no," Joey protested. "I did not just suggest you slept with Geoff!"

"Does he even want to?" Nicole wondered.

Sex had been a real point of contention during her relationship with him.

"He said he's changed his values about that kind of thing," Ruby explained. "It used to be no sex before marriage but now it's no sex without love. But he's still a little shaky and uncertain about it. And I'm in a panic too. I mean, I only slept with Xavier for the first time in July. It's November! How could I move on that quickly?"

"Well, in fairness, a hell of a lot has happened since July," Joey conceded. "But still, I'm not saying do it."

"What are you saying?" Ruby asked.

"Don't do it!"

"But you gave neutral advice to Nic!"

"Nic isn't my girlfriend's daughter!" Joey protested. "That's... that's different."

"No, it's not," Ruby informed her. "You're being hypocritical now."

Joey sighed. It was true. But Charlie really would kill her if she thought she'd sent her daughter off to go and have sex with her boyfriend.

"Just... don't rush into anything."

"But I feel about Geoff how you said I should feel," Ruby said unhappily.

Joey frowned, feeling very awkward.

"How did things happen with Charlie?" Nicole asked.

"Well... we fell in love. And we didn't rush anything."

"How long before you... you know?"

Ruby tried not to freak out at the thought. Not that she wasn't very aware of their sex lives.

"About a month," Joey said. "We made a point of taking our time. Charlie was trying to get her head around being in love with a woman and... well, I don't even need to go into my issues, do I?"

Both teenagers shook their heads.

"It was a progressive thing, I guess. It just developed over time. And neither of us were in a hurry," Joey continued. "It happened naturally."

She looked directly at Ruby.

"It's really not something you should rush into," she said.

"I won't," Ruby promised.

"But yes, by the time Charlie and I were at that stage, we were very much in love. And I truly believed – and still do believe – that I will spend the rest of my life with her," Joey concluded.

"I feel like that about Geoff," Ruby said earnestly.

"And I don't feel like that about Liam," Nicole admitted. "Hopefully one day but not yet."


"Oh, just go for it!" Aden exclaimed. "What's stopping you?"

"Well, I don't really believe in sex before marriage..." Geoff ventured, nursing his coffee in the corner of the Diner.

"You've slept with two girls before!" Aden pointed out.

"I know but that was... different."

"Don't you love Ruby?" Aden asked more seriously.

"No, I do," Geoff said quickly. "I feel more for her than I did for either Nicole or Claudia. She's incredible. I love everything about her."

"Then stop being a big girl's blouse and get to it," Aden said. "Life's too short to wait to be happy. It's taken you this long to even date her. Don't waste more time."


Charlie drummed her hands on the dashboard. She picked her coffee up, frowned at it being empty and resumed drumming.

"I'm bored," she finally complained.

"You sound like a child!" Angelo argued.

"I just don't see why you think sitting outside the farm is going to help," Charlie said.

"We need to keep an eye on Hugo," Angelo insisted. "We need to watch his every move."

"Then we need a bigger team," Charlie decided.

"Charlie, you know I can't tell anyone else about what's going on!" Angelo hissed, although he too was beginning to think he was going about everything all wrong.

"Well, I'm not sitting in this car for the next forever," Charlie said. "This is an amateur operation, Angelo. If we're going to find out the truth about Hugo, then we have to do it properly. We need to watch him. But I'm not going to give up my life in order to do that."

"What do you suggest then?" Angelo asked, irritated. "Because I couldn't possibly ask you give up precious hours with your precious Joey in order to save people's lives, could I?"

"Don't even start with me," Charlie warned. "And anyway, sitting in a car twenty-four-seven isn't exactly rescuing a bunch of people drowning on a sinking ship, is it? We need to go back to the station, regroup, and have officers watching Hugo all the time. We don't have to tell them what it's for. We just need them to get the job done."

Finally, Angelo relented. He started the engine and drove away. Inside the house, Hugo looked out of the window, with the distinct feeling that he was being watched. He didn't like it.


Next time... Ruby and Geoff decide to take things further, Aden has a confession to make, Nicole follows Joey's advice and Joey keeps Charlie entertained on a stakeout...