Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty One

Ruby studied Charlie with an expression of deep concern. They, along with Joey, Leah and VJ were all sitting round the kitchen table, having breakfast.

"Rubes, I'm fine," the police officer said, keeping her head down.

Ruby continued to stare.

"Rubes!"

"Do you wake up screaming like that every night?" her daughter asked bluntly.

Charlie swallowed and glanced at Joey who held her hand quietly under the table.

"I mean, I know you said you were having nightmares but..."

"I'm fine," Charlie said.

"Are you scared, Charlie?" VJ wondered. "Is something frightening you?"

Stella had dropped him back home first thing. Leah was glad to see him but worried about the fragile situation her child was entering into.

"No," Charlie assured him. "I'm just having some bad dreams at the moment."

She glanced at Joey again.

"And I'm making an appointment today in order to get help with them."

Joey smiled. Ruby looked relieved.

"Well, that's good," Leah enthused.

Charlie nodded and then begged them to start talking about something else.

"How's Hazem?" Ruby asked Leah, obeying orders.

Then it was Leah's turn to look sad.

"He's being transferred to the city," she said. "He's going to need a lot of rehab and treatment and stuff to get back on his feet. Anyway... what are you guys all up to today?"

"I'm planning on enjoying my last day of leave," Charlie said.

"Back to work tomorrow then?"

"Yep," Charlie said unhappily. "I am not looking forward to all the fallout I'm going to have to work through, what with the Hugo thing and the riot."

"There is one good thing," Joey said playfully.

"Joey..." Charlie scolded with the hint of a smile.

"What?" Ruby and Leah asked in unison.

"Well, now that his case is over, the chances are that Angelo will be transferred to a different station," Charlie explained.

Ruby laughed.

"And that's why Joey's turning into a Cheshire cat!" she remarked.

"Excuse me if I'm thrilled to see the back of a man who continually tries to steal my girlfriend," Joey said with a small pout.

"He hasn't tried to steal me for ages," Charlie pointed out. "And anyway, we don't know if it's a forgone conclusion. He might be sticking around so don't get your hopes up, okay?"

Joey nodded. But she couldn't help but hope that her would be love rival might soon be out of the picture for good. While she knew she had absolutely nothing to worry about when it came to Charlie's commitment to her, just the idea of Angelo creeped her out a little bit. She couldn't help it.

"Well, let's hope everything will get back to normal again soon," Ruby said, trying to be optimistic. "Angelo will leave, Geoff and Hazem will recover, the horrible rioters will get jailed..."

"Speaking of," Charlie cut in, turning back to Joey. "Did you know one of them last night?"

Joey blanched, shook her head and bit into her second slice of toast.

"No," she said.

"Okay," Charlie said. "I just thought I saw some sort or recognition between you and one of the River Boys."

"You know one of the River Boys?" Ruby asked, her eyes wide.

Everyone knew of them, thanks to their particularly awful reputation. But Ruby felt fortunate that they were loyal to Mangrove River and didn't stray into the Bay.

"Who are the River Boys?" VJ asked.

"They're boys that should have grown up by now," Charlie told him. "They're not very nice."

"You know one of them?" Ruby asked again.

"No," Joey said. "I don't know any of them."

Charlie couldn't help but note the defensiveness in her tone. Assuming Joey wouldn't lie to her, she let it go.


At nine o'clock, Charlie phoned her old counsellor's office and arranged an appointment for the following week. She surprised herself by immediately feeling a little better, knowing she was tackling her problems head on instead of continuing to run away from them. Heading into the bedroom, she found Joey getting changed. She took a moment to admire her girlfriend, wearing shorts and a bra and showing off her particularly toned body. Charlie stepped up and wrapped her arms around her, kissing her cheek.

"Thank you," she said.

Joey leant back against her, smiling.

"For what?" she asked curiously.

"Giving me the strength to deal with my problems head on," Charlie replied. "I've always been the kind of person to run away and pretend things aren't happening but you give me the strength to believe that nothing is insurmountable. I feel ready to deal with what happened to me and move on. With you."

Joey's smile widened. She turned around in Charlie's arms, holding her tight and kissing her tenderly.

"Charlie, are you...?"

Ruby walked in, clocked Joey in her underwear and averted her eyes.

"Are you ever going to put Joey down for long enough to take me to the hospital?" she asked.

"Yes," Charlie sighed dramatically.

She turned back to Joey.

"Meet you at the Surf Club?" she checked.

"Yep," Joey promised, kissing her one more time before she let her go.


Ten minutes later, Joey was ready to head out. She paused when she found Leah sitting on the sofa, looking miserable.

"Hey," she said, leaning on the back of the couch. "Do you want to come to the Surf Club? Charlie and I are going to play some pool and hang out."

"No thanks," Leah said, not meeting her gaze. "I can't face people today."

Joey looked worriedly at her but accepted what she said.

"Call if you change your mind, okay?" she said.

"I will," Leah promised, although she had no intention of doing anything but watching TV all day.

Joey gave her one last worried glance and then headed out of the house.


Charlie went in with Ruby to see Geoff and thank him personally for so selflessly saving Ruby the night before.

"Well, I love her," Geoff admitted with a smile.

Ruby made an adorable cooing noise and snuggled up to him carefully. Charlie chuckled.

"Okay, well, I'll leave you to it," she said. "Ring when you want me to pick you up, okay?"

"Thanks, Charles," Ruby said. "See you later. Make sure you and Joey come up for air occasionally."

Charlie paused in the doorway and turned back to her daughter.

"Make sure you two do the same!" she remarked.


Joey arrived in the Surf Club to find Alf serving and looking desperately unhappy.

"Hey," she greeted warmly. "How are you feeling?"

She perched on a stool and was surprised when he sighed heavily and admitted he felt terrible.

"You should have taken a rest day if you're poorly," Joey said.

Alf sighed again and shook his head.

"I don't feel ill," he said. "I just feel... miserable."

He was surprised to find himself opening up to her. Miles had been hassling him all morning about his mood but he hadn't been willing to talk about it with anyone.

"Because of last night?" Joey asked.

Alf nodded.

"I've always been so proud to say that this is my town, Joey," he said. "But last night just made me feel ashamed. Once upon a time, Summer Bay was a beautiful place. It was about family and friendship and community. Now it's..."

He pushed a newspaper towards her. It was filled with photos some reporter must have taken of the night before.

"Now it's about race riots and human trafficking," Joey concluded sadly.

"I never thought people from Summer Bay could be this way," Alf admitted. "Racist, violent... I mean, have you seen the state of the Diner? They won't be open for business for a long time. It's so broken, burnt out... It's a mess. People did that. People from Summer Bay did that. They destroyed a building, they tried to destroy people... How does something like that happen?"

"I don't know," Joey admitted. "But try to console yourself with the fact that it was a drunken minority. The majority of people who live here are good, gentle people that wouldn't hurt anyone else."

She smiled affectionately at her former boss.

"Come on, Alf," she said. "You're the Summer Bay stalwart; you can't lose faith in us now. We'd never cope."

He laughed for the first time in what felt like too long.


"Hey!" Charlie bellowed, jumping out of her car and charging up to a gang of teenagers.

One of them had punched John in the face. She was surprised to find that the other two teens were none other that Romeo and Xavier.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Charlie snapped.

John clutched his face.

"She just attacked me for no damn reason!" he declared.

"He insulted my brother!" the girl snapped.

Charlie sighed when she came face to face with Mink.

"Causing trouble already?" she asked.

"He insulted my brother," Mink repeated.

"It really doesn't matter," Romeo said, trying to nudge her away from the situation.

"Are you pressing charges?" Charlie asked John.

"I should," he said bitterly. "But I'd rather get on with having a nice day in the wake of all the horror of last night."

Charlie nodded. Mink looked smug.

"Don't let me catch you again," she said.

"Like you're such a good girl," Mink remarked.

"Excuse me?"

"Speeding!"

"To an emergency!" Charlie reminded her.

"You weren't on duty..."

"I don't care."

Charlie turned to Romeo and Xavier.

"Try and behave?" she requested. "We've got enough going on in this town right now without troublemakers."

Romeo put his arm around Mink, more to pull her away than to be affectionate.

"We'll be good," he promised.

Charlie watched the three teenagers head down to the beach together. She nodded towards John and then headed into the Surf Club to meet Joey.


VJ stormed up to his bedroom, upset. He'd wanted to go out and play on the beach but his mother had said no. She had also snapped unnecessarily at him. He regretted coming home now. He'd been having fun at Stella's. Being stuck at home was boring and Charlie and Joey weren't even around to play with either.


"I win! I win! I win!" Joey sang jubilantly, doing a little jig around the pool table.

"Show off!" Charlie pouted, folding her arms in a mock strop.

Joey grinned and flung herself into her partner's arms.

"Another game?" she asked.

"You've kicked my arse twice now," Charlie pointed out. "Let's sit down for a bit."

Now it was Joey's turn to pout.

"Spoil my fun," she complained.

Charlie smiled and took her hand, leading her to the bar.

"Gathering my strength," she corrected. "Then we will play and you, my love, won't know what's hit you!"

Joey giggled and stole a kiss before hauling herself back up on a bar stool. She was pleased to see Alf looking a little merrier.

"You two look like you're having fun," he remarked.

"So much fun playing with this sore loser," Joey smirked.

"I am not a sore loser!" Charlie insisted. "You're just a bad winner!"

"But a winner, no less!" Joey declared.


Sitting in a line on the beach, Mink rolled her eyes as Romeo and Xavier continued to lecture her about her behaviour while she was in Summer Bay.

"Alright!" she snapped. "Change the frickin' record!"

"All I'm saying is that I've got a good set up here," Romeo said. "I don't want you wrecking it."

"A good set up?" Mink mocked. "You're about to go back to high school."

Having discussed the situation at length with Gina in recent weeks, Romeo had indeed decided to go back to school order to get some qualifications. And it was a decision he had been rather proud of until Mink had teased him for it.

"It's a good thing that he's going back to school," Xavier said. "It's good to get qualifications."

"Ugh, you two are such losers!" Mink declared. "School, qualifications, wanting to do something good with that money your brother left you instead of having fun with it..."

Xavier and Romeo both looked alarmed.

"I heard you discussing it this morning," she explained.

She stretched out and lay back on the sand.

"And for the record, I make no promises about being good," she said. "That cop is super hot when she's being all strict. I can only imagine her in uniform."

Xavier's eyes widened in surprise. Romeo just rolled his eyes.

"And don't even get me started on her girlfriend..."


Charlie and Joey arrived back with Ruby in tow, to find Leah in exactly the same position on the couch. They'd taken Geoff home from the hospital to his place, leaving him in the care of Irene who was determined not to let him lift a finger until he was back to full health.

"I'm going to watch TV upstairs," Ruby said when she caught the worried glance between her parents.

Charlie and Joey came to sit with Leah.

"Had a good day?" Joey asked gently.

Leah promptly burst into tears. Charlie and Joey both rushed forward to hug her.

"Hey, it's okay," Charlie whispered. "Everything's okay."

"It's not," Leah said. "Hazem might never recover from what happened to him and it's all my fault."

"Your fault?" Joey asked. "How do you figure that one?"

"Every man I like ends up dead or injured!" Leah said desperately.

Charlie and Joey shifted so that they were sitting on either side of their friend, ready and willing to listen to her pour her heart out.


Next time... Charlie returns to work and she and Angelo are both in line for promotion, Joey supports Leah as she contemplates restoring the Diner and Aden struggles when Nicole shows Liam some care and concern...