Fortunately the vandal in Summer Bay isn't quite as destructive as the vandals terrorising the UK at the moment! I hope you enjoy the chapter. Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Four

After work the next day, Joey headed to the Diner to meet Charlie for an early dinner. Charlie was working overnight and Joey could curse the fact that today was a non-college day. But it did mean that she had no excuses left about trying to make up with Aden.

"Is he working today?" she asked when Leah came to serve them.

"No, he's got a day off," Leah said. "And I gather he's going to be spending the evening trying to catch the graffiti artist with Miles at the caravan park."

Charlie looked alarmed. The last thing she needed in her investigation was for civilians to interfere. Things were hard enough already.

"Maybe leave it for tonight," she suggested. "I don't want you getting caught up in stuff."

"I'll be fine," Joey assured her. "I mean, a vandal is more annoying than dangerous right?"

"Mostly," Charlie agreed.

"And I know if I back out of talking to Aden now then I won't do it," Joey added. "Then it'll just continue and... I really just want my friend back."

Charlie sighed, not entirely comfortable with the idea but knew that Joey was stubborn enough to make sure she got her way.

"Will you be able to keep in touch tonight?" Joey asked. "I still miss you when you work nights."

She blushed a little at the admission. Charlie smiled and squeezed her hand.

"I'll be in touch," she said. "But you have to try and sleep, okay? I don't want you to be the walking dead tomorrow. You've got a long day."

"I will do my best to sleep," Joey promised.

She still didn't have all that much success with sleeping without Charlie. It was half the reason that they'd got as close as they did so quickly. Charlie had rescued Joey from a terrible situation and under the guise of just being friends, she had spent many a night holding her and keeping her calm and safe.


After they'd eaten, Joey kissed Charlie goodbye and headed on over to the caravan park to see if she could find Aden. She had no idea how the meeting would go but she loved him enough to at least try and talk things through. He had hurt her feelings no end the other day and she wasn't entirely sure if they would even recover. But she wanted to try.


"So, any more 'moments' to report?" Charlie asked, approaching Leah at the counter and delaying the start of her shift a little.

Leah blushed and shook her head. Her mind was still in a spin over the whole Elijah situation.

"I haven't really seen him," she said.

"How have you managed to avoid him when you're in his self defence class?" Charlie wondered.

"I kind of didn't go," Leah admitted.

"Leah!" Charlie scolded. "Look, I know this whole thing is doing your head in but please don't forget why we took you to that class in the first place."

"I know," Leah replied. "But I'm doing better, aren't I? The counselling is helping, I'm back on my feet..."

"And so am I but I'm not ready to leave counselling quite yet," Charlie pointed out. "And what happened to me was much earlier than what happened to you. Make sure you give yourself the best shot at recovery. Please?"

"I will," Leah promised with a sigh.

"If nothing else, Joey won't move in with me if she thinks you're still struggling," Charlie smirked. "And you wouldn't want to make me feel grumpy, would you?"

She flashed her most charming smile and succeeded in making Leah laugh.

"I'll be good," she said. "How's the house hunting going anyway?"

"Ugh!" Charlie said rather dramatically. "It is so hard to find the perfect place to live. We've viewed so many places already but..."

She shook her head.

"You're just renting to start with, right?" Leah said.

Charlie nodded.

"Then maybe you shouldn't be so intent on getting the 'perfect' place. Save all that agony for when you guys are buying your own home. For now maybe just find somewhere you think you can be happy. And quite frankly, knowing you as I do, you'd probably be happy in a box under a bridge!"

Charlie laughed and nodded, thinking that it wasn't a half bad plan.


"Are you our mystery tagger?" Miles asked when Joey crept up and surprised him and Aden.

"Innocent," Joey promised, holding up her hands.

Aden shifted uncomfortably.

"Can I borrow your partner?" Joey asked Miles.

"Sure," Miles said. "Although I hope you mean that in a cop kind of way rather than a gay kind of way..."

Joey merely raised her eyebrows.

"Not that there's anything wrong with being gay!" he said quickly. "I mean, I'm totally pro gay. I love the idea of lesbians and... and I'm going to stop digging and go over there."

He hurried away. Joey couldn't help but laugh and even Aden managed to crack a smile.

"How are you?" he asked.

Joey sat beside him.

"I'm fine, aside from the fact that my best friend was a real shit-bag the other day," Joey replied bluntly.

Aden sighed.

"Sorry," he said quietly.

"It's okay," Joey said, sounding sad. "But seriously, what happened?"

Aden merely sighed, wondering how he could explain himself and make things right.


Charlie was just about to climb into her car when she spotted Mink walking towards the Diner, having just come in from a late surf.

"Hi," she called.

"Want another kiss?" Mink smirked.

Charlie laughed and asked if she really wanted to get on the wrong side of Joey again.

"Has she forgiven me yet?" Mink asked.

She and Charlie were both surprised to hear how genuinely concerned she sounded. Neither had realised she cared.

"She's fine, don't worry," Charlie assured her. "But I did want to have a chat with you."

"I didn't do it!" Mink said automatically.

"Well, yeah, that's what I wanted to discuss," Charlie replied.


"I think I'm a bit jealous of you," Aden finally admitted. "And it's not like I don't want good things to happen to you, Jo. I love you. I love you so much and it breaks my heart to think of the hell you were going through just this time last year."

Joey nodded but didn't speak. The anniversary of the rape had recently passed. Charlie had been very good about it, the way she hoped she had been back in September when Charlie had endured the same day. But they were both determined to look to the future now and put the pain of their pasts behind them.

"I don't know," Aden sighed. "I shouldn't have been so rude to you. I am sorry."

"It's okay," Joey said. "I just need to know where you're coming from. If I'm doing something to piss you off then I need you to tell me about it."

"You're not," he assured her. "You're the same amazing Joey that I've known and loved for a year now."

He grinned. She couldn't help but smile back.

"I guess, I just see you building a wonderful life for you and I feel sad that I'll never have the same," he ventured.

"What do you mean?"

"You're about to celebrate a year with the love your life," Aden said. "And I... I had that, on and off and I'm never going to have that again."

"What about Nicole?"

"I like her," he said. "I like her a lot and I want to be with her. But she'll never be... you know."

"Belle," Joey said softly.

He nodded.

"I still have no idea how to get over losing her, Jo," he said. "I miss her so much every day and I'm trying to move on. But when I look at my life, I just feel like I've got nothing. I've lost the love of my life... my wife, my soul mate. And it's not like she's left me and I can work hard to get her back or something. She's gone. She's dead. And that's forever, you know?"

Joey nodded and reached for his hand.

"And I finally found a job I liked," he continued. "That trawler meant the world to me and we lost it because of stupid John Palmer. And then we got this crummy job at the bait shop and I couldn't even do well at that, could I? Alf wants you to manage the place, not me."

He sighed heavily.

"I just feel like such a failure," he said. "And I'm so happy that you're not but I feel a bit jealous too. You've got the perfect girlfriend. I mean, I've known Charlie a bit longer than you have but I've never known her to be like this. She's so in love with you. She's like a different person. I look at you together and it's like you complete each other."

"We do," Joey admitted quietly.

"And you've done so well at work," he continued. "You rocked that trawler and now you're doing really well at the bait shop. I think Alf fell in love with you when you started working behind the bar!"

They both laughed softly.

"And I... I barely finished school," he said. "I managed it but it was a real struggle. And you're back at college and I know you're going to be a real success in the future. I can totally see you running your own restaurant before the end of the year. And then there's Ruby... You've stepped so easily into being her mother. It's like everything you touched turns to gold and everything I touch turns to shit."

Joey dropped his hand and put her arm around him.

"I wish things were better for you," she said. "I wish there was more I could do. If it helps, this whole success thing is new. It's really only because of Charlie, I think. Back before I met her, I hated my life. I was afraid of the world and everything in it and I had no freedom to be myself. I've been through a lot of pain and to be honest, I never thought I'd be in the position I am now. I thought I'd struggle with everything that ever came my way."

Aden nodded.

"I'm sorry for being jealous," he said.

"I'm sorry if I haven't been more understanding about how you feel," Joey said. "I honestly had no idea. But if it helps, I firmly believe that things will turn around for you. I know you'll never be able to recover from the pain of losing Belle. But I do think you could build something special with Nicole."

"I hope so."

"And if you don't want me to be your boss at the bait shop, that's fine," Joey continued. "I'm sure you'll do great at the Diner. And hey, if you ever did want me to employ you, and I did make it with the restaurant that Charlie's dreamed up, then there will always be a job for you there."

Aden lifted his head and grinned.

"Even after what I said to you?" he asked.

"Aden, I love you," Joey told him. "You can be as much of a bitch as you like and you'll never change it. I'm afraid you're stuck with me for life now!"

Aden laughed.

"I can live with that," he said.


Charlie approached Watson in her office with two coffees.

"Are you okay?" her friend asked. "You seem a bit distracted."

"I'm fine," Charlie told her. "I just had a bit of a run in with Mink."

"Oh dear."

The blonde hadn't been in town very long but she had been busily making waves. Everybody knew her.

"What happened?" Watson asked.

"Ruby told me something about her and I tried to offer my support and, well, she was really sweet and grateful but she was clearly pissed that I knew," Charlie explained. "And I'm worried that it's going to have repercussions for Rubes."

"What did she tell you?" Watson wondered.


Angelo was making himself a coffee in the back room when he noticed a phone on the counter. Picking it up, he pressed up a button and saw a wallpaper of Joey and Ruby looking far too happy for their own good. They were wearing Christmas hats so he assumed the photo was recent. Finishing his coffee, he was about to give Charlie her phone back when he paused. Setting his mug down and making sure nobody was around, he began to flip through Charlie's messages.


"If I wanted the world and its mother to know the truth about me and my family then I would have damn well posted it in the paper," Mink snapped.

Having stormed into the Surf Club, she now towered over Xavier and Ruby who had been chatting and enjoying being back together.

"Excuse me?"

"You told Charlie about my Mum!" Mink hissed.

"No, she wouldn't have..." Xavier began but stopped when he saw how guilty his girlfriend looked.

"Sorry," Ruby said.

"Ruby!" Xavier scolded. "That was private."

"Yeah, it was," Mink snapped. "And your mother might be hot and nice and everything but I don't need her or anyone knowing my business. Especially considering she's a cop! She could track my Mum down and everything could have been in vain! She could still get tried for what she did!"

"Charlie wouldn't do that," Ruby insisted. "She is nice. And she cares about you."

Mink folded her arms and remained unimpressed.

"Whatever," she said. "Stay out of my business from here on out, okay? I didn't ask you to get involved in any of this."

Ruby sighed heavily as Mink stalked away.


Angelo was dissatisfied to not have found any incriminating evidence when it came to Charlie and her secret lover. But then, he should have known that she'd never leave anything like that on her phone where Joey could read it and find her out. Charlie would be way sneakier than that. Really, all he'd found on there were some racy messages from Joey herself. And that wasn't proof of anything other than even a year on they were still rather rampant. It made him feel a bit sick. Sighing, he picked up his drink and headed out to give Charlie her phone back, hoping she wouldn't suspect him of rifling through it.


It was seven o'clock in the morning when Charlie arrived home. She was somewhat distressed to discover that Joey hadn't slept all night.

"I tried," she said, looking half dead and still tucked up in bed.

"I know," Charlie said gently.

"I had bad dreams," Joey said sadly. "And I missed you."

Charlie leant over and hugged her.

"And now I have to go to work," Joey complained.

"I'm sorry," Charlie apologised.

"It's not your fault."

"I worked a night shift."

"You had to!" Joey pointed out. "Anyway, I've got another half an hour before I need to be in the shower. Are you too tired for snuggles?"

Charlie grinned. Kicking off her shoes, she changed clothes quickly and dived into bed. Gently she pulled Joey into her arms and whispered that she loved her.


Next time... Charlie and Joey find an apartment, Angelo continues snooping, Mink admits she needs help and Aden feels left out...