Chapter Two Hundred and Eighteen

It was the early evening of Australia Day and Ruby and Geoff had spent most of it making up care packages and delivering them to the hospital for the asylum seekers that were still recovering there. Leah had taken an uncharacteristic day off and with VJ visiting Stella, had gone on her third date with Hazem. Despite her nerves over getting into a new relationship, she was excited and she was having a nice time. She enjoyed taking things slowly and was looking forward to telling Charlie and Joey all about it when they got home.


"You know, if you'd have agreed to teach me to drive..." Joey teased.

"No!" Charlie said quickly but with the hint of a smile.

Grinning, Joey reached out and held her hand. Charlie yawned again, which was what had prompted Joey's comment in the first place.

"You know, if you're tired, we could always stop somewhere," Joey ventured.

"I'm not napping on the side of the..."

Charlie trailed off when she caught the glint in her girlfriend's eye.


On their way out of the hospital, Geoff and Ruby spotted Martha in the corridor with Rachel.

"Come on," Martha was saying when they approached. "You've got to feel sorry for the guy."

"Feel sorry for who?" Ruby asked, not caring about being nosy.

"Liam's here," Martha explained. "He took something last night and got himself to hospital. But Rachel is struggling with pity."

"I'm rushed off my feet here, Martha," Rachel protested. "And if Liam is going to learn from this experience, then it's best that nobody makes it easy for him."

With that, she marched off to attend to another patient. Martha shrugged and went to see Liam. Geoff and Ruby headed back out of the hospital and towards the Diner where they had booked a table for dinner. It was their last night of relative freedom until Charlie and Joey got home.


"I hope you know that we could have got arrested for public indecency back there," Charlie commented as they headed back out of the woods and towards the car.

"And you, a police officer!" Joey giggled.

She paused and pulled Charlie into her arms, brushing some twigs out of her hair. They kissed.

"I think that was the perfect end to a perfect holiday," she said.

"I think I have to agree."

They kissed again. When they parted, Charlie glanced up.

"Hey!" she yelled at the blonde girl scoping out their car.

She broke into a run.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Joey dashed after her. The girl didn't move.


Leah and Hazem walked towards the Diner, holding hands. The Bay was busier than usual, with people turning out to celebrate Australia Day.

"Hey, you!" one man slurred, obviously drunk.

Leah and Hazem walked past him, oblivious until he threw an empty beer can at Hazem's head. He spun round, dropping Leah's hand in surprise.

"What are you playing at?" he demanded.

"We don't like people like you in our country," the man told him.

He was quickly backed up by some of his mates. Before either Hazem or Leah could even move, they launched their attack.


"Relax!" the blonde girl said. "I was just trying to figure out if it belonged to someone or not."

Charlie folded her arms and glared.

"Well it does," she snapped. "Me."

"Sorry!" the girl said, holding her hands up in mock apology.

"Get out of here," Charlie said, taking Joey's hand.

"Up to some naughties in the woods, were you?" the girl asked, watching them unlock the car.

"None of your business," Charlie said coldly. "And I told you to get out of here."

She climbed in the car and was about to shut the door when the girl caught hold of it.

"What direction are you going in?" she asked.

"Again, none of your business," Charlie said, trying to pull the door.

Joey climbed in the other side, happy to let Charlie take the lead. She didn't do confrontation very well.

"I'm heading to a place called Summer Bay," the girl said. "And chance of a lift?"

"I don't pick up hitchhikers," Charlie said firmly, trying to pull the door again.

Glancing at Joey, her heart sank at the look of hope on her face.

"No," she said firmly. "We're going home. Alone."

"Do you guys live there?" the girl asked.

"No," Charlie lied before Joey could speak.

She quickly pulled the door closed, locked up again and put her seatbelt on.

"Charlie, she's going to the same place we are," Joey pointed out. "Would it be so terrible to give her a lift?"

"Yes, it would, Joey," Charlie said. "It's not safe to pick up hitchhikers."

"Okay," Joey relented, knowing how vulnerable her girlfriend felt at the moment.

Charlie started the engine and began to drive off. Despite herself, she glanced back at the forlorn young woman watching them leave. Sighing in irritation, Charlie stopped the car.

"I guess she can't really harm us," she said. "I mean, I'm a cop and you're all butch."

"Hey!" Joey protested.

Charlie leant over and kissed her, smiling to show she was teasing.

"You don't have to pick her up," Joey said seriously. "I know it's not exactly a time of your life where you're feeling that great..."

Charlie opened the car door and turned back to the girl.

"You've got five seconds to get in the car or we're leaving without you," she yelled.

The girl was in the backseat even sooner than that.

"My name's Mink, by the way," she said. "There is a boy called Romeo living in Summer Bay, right? I've been looking for him."


Leah couldn't stop screaming but she couldn't be heard over the riot in front of her. The drunken men had battered Hazem to the ground. She couldn't even see him anymore.

"What's going on?" said a voice behind her.

She jumped when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Geoff!" she said desperately. "It's Hazem."

Ruby raced into the Diner to get help while Geoff tried to fight his way through the crowd. Leah tried to stop screaming.


"So, how do you know Romeo?" Joey asked from the passenger seat of the car.

Mink leant forward until Charlie warned her to put her seatbelt on.

"Geez, you're strict," Mink commented.

"I'm a police officer," Charlie said, deciding that she ought to set the boundaries from the start.

"Oh, really?" Mink said sourly. "Of all the people who could have picked me up..."

"Do you want to walk the rest of the way?" Charlie asked, concentrating on the road.

"No," Mink said quietly.

She turned to Joey.

"Romeo's my brother," she explained.

"Really?" Joey asked. "I didn't realise he had a sister. Not that I know him all that well."

"He's mates with our daughter," Charlie put in.

Joey smiled, touched that Charlie referred to Ruby as belonging to both of them.

"He hangs out with a baby?" Mink asked incredulously.

"She's sixteen," Joey explained.

Mink's eyes widened.

"Either you two are really hot for your age or I'm not even going to try and do the maths," she said, settling more comfortably in her seat.

"Best not," Joey smirked.


Alf and Geoff just about managed to drag a bloodied and broken Hazem into the Diner and Leah and Ruby hurried to lock the doors.

"What's going on?" Colleen asked, appearing from the kitchen.

Seeing the state of Hazem, she immediately felt a little faint. Ruby and Geoff did their best to make him comfortable while Alf called the police and an ambulance. Leah tried to block out the way he yelled that they didn't have fifteen minutes to wait and that they were in danger. Kneeling down beside her date, she touched his hand, desperately willing him to be okay.

"Did you say fifteen minutes?" Ruby asked Alf.

He nodded gravely.

"There's some sort of incident in town," he said.

Ruby pulled out her phone and called Charlie just as flames burst through the window.


Charlie pressed the button on her phone to let her use her hands-free kit when it rang.

"Hey, Rubes," she greeted warmly. "How's it going?"

"Where are you?" Ruby asked in a shaky voice.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked, immediately worried.

Ruby hurriedly explained what was happening.

"Sit tight," Charlie said urgently. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"What's going on?" Joey asked when Charlie hung up.

"There's some sort of siege at the Diner," Charlie explained. "We have to get there immediately. Call Watson."

"But we're at least half an hour away," Joey said, pulling out her phone.

Charlie shot over the speed limit, ignoring the car horns that blared at her.

"Or maybe not," Joey said a little breathlessly, as she waited for their friend to answer the phone.


Next time... John, Miles, Charlie and Joey all attempt to save the day...