Dedicated as a thank you to Luckdog. You're right! Kate Bell does look gorgeous with her new haircut. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Six

"Irene!" Geoff gasped. "What are you doing here? You weren't due back for weeks!"

"I know but Annie and Jai were doing so well over there so I figured they were independent enough to be left to their own devices," Irene explained.

"How are they?" Geoff asked.

"Oh, they're fine," Irene said. "They're having a great time."

She grinned and then asked if she was going to get a hug or be left unwelcome. Geoff moved forward and hugged her, happily welcoming her home. Ruby then did the same.

"So, what have I missed? How are things?"

She raised an eyebrow at the candlelit table.

"I presume things are going well," she remarked.

Both teenagers blushed, desperately hoping they hadn't been rumbled. The threesome were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Visitors already?" Irene wondered.

She opened up and welcomed Charlie and Joey inside.

"I only saw you five seconds ago," Irene giggled at Joey. "Did you miss me that much?"

Joey laughed and let Charlie step in to do her police-womanly duties.

"It's a bit awkward," she ventured, glancing at the kids and feeling relieved that they had their clothes on. "Shall we sit down?"

Irene nodded and perched on the couch. Geoff sat next to her and Ruby next to him, not quite able to meet Charlie's gaze.

"I'm really sorry to drop it on you when you've only just got back but I didn't want you to hear it on the grapevine," the police officer ventured. "The charges against Donna DeBono have been dropped and we're back investigating Lou's death."

Irene stared at her for a moment and then nodded reluctantly.

"Am I...?"

"You're not a suspect," Charlie clarified. "And we will get to the bottom of what happened to Lou. It'll just take some time. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

"Well, I'd rather it was you than anyone else," Irene said honestly. "Listen, I'm pretty jetlagged. I think I'm going to go to bed."

Geoff nodded and watched her go. He, Ruby, Charlie and Joey all stood a little awkwardly in the lounge.

"Are you staying or...?" Charlie ventured.

"Well, I can hardly stay now, can I?" Ruby said sourly, as if it was her mother's fault.

Joey grimaced at the teenager's treatment of Charlie.

"Well, we'll give you a lift home then," she said, saying goodnight to Geoff and leading Charlie out of the house.


In the car, Ruby sulked in the backseat. She could see herself taking her mood out on Charlie and she really didn't want to so she forced herself to remain quiet.

"Did you... have a nice night?" Charlie tried, glancing at her in the rear view mirror.

"No," Ruby said flatly. "Well, we were until we got interrupted."

She glared at Charlie's reflection. Charlie glanced a little helplessly at Joey who frowned.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Ruby finally asked.

"Do what?"

"Interrupt?"

"We didn't interrupt! Irene interrupted, if you remember," Charlie snapped.

"Convenient," Ruby muttered.

"Oh yes, Ruby, I flew all the way to Japan and brought Irene home just to stop you from sleeping with Geoff!"

"I wouldn't put it past you."

Charlie was about to launch into a full scale argument when Joey placed a hand on her thigh, silently warning her not to rise to the bait. Charlie sighed heavily.

"No, we didn't interrupt on purpose," Charlie said more calmly. "We saw Irene and I tried to call you to warn you but you hung up on me and then turned your phone off. And then, knowing that Irene was likely to walk in on something and because I had to tell her about Donna anyway, we decided to head over and give you an out. We were trying to be nice."

She just about heard a quiet apology.


Ruby went straight to bed as soon as she walked through the door, feeling embarrassed about getting caught out, disappointed that she didn't get the night she planned, and guilty that, as usual, she had taken it out on Charlie. She wondered when she had turned into such a petulant teenager. She was sure Charlie used to be the moody one of the two of them. But then, a lot had happened since they had moved to Summer Bay. Ruby's world and everything she felt she knew about herself had changed. And with that, so had her personality. But despite circumstances, Charlie had come to life for the first time. Joey had loved her into letting go of her past and opening herself up to happiness. Ruby just hoped that the same thing would happen between her and Geoff.

"What a damn day!" Charlie complained, kicking the bedroom door shut and hurling herself onto the mattress.

Joey came to lie beside her, leaning on her elbow and gazing into Charlie's blue eyes.

"First Donna gets released, then Angelo starts storming around like it's my fault, then I'm forced to deal with Ruby wanting to get it on with Geoff, and then when Irene interrupts, Ruby treats that as my fault too! Why is everything my fault?" Charlie wondered helplessly.

Joey smiled softly at her, feeling suddenly captivated. She gently ran her hands over her taut tummy and then bent her head to kiss her. Charlie smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Joey's neck, pulling her a little closer.

"Why is everything my fault?" she asked again when they parted.

"Not everything is your fault," Joey promised. "Ruby was probably just embarrassed and we all know how she likes to take her moods out on you these days. And don't even get me started on Angelo."

Charlie managed a smile. Joey kissed her again.

"And we didn't even have time for dessert at the Diner," Charlie pouted.

Joey kissed her again but a little more passionately this time.

"We could have dessert now," she purred.

"Really?" Charlie grinned.

"Yep, we have ice cream in the freezer or I could bake a pie..." Joey teased.

Charlie promptly pulled Joey on top of her, making it very clear that food was not the order of the day.


Next time... Martha finds Hugo's plane ticket, Watson tells Charlie that Angelo asked her out and Charlie wonders if Hugo is connected to Lou's death...