I hope you enjoy Angelo's revelations as I know a lot of you have been looking forward to it! I hope I've done it justice! Love, IJKS xxx

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Two

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Ruby finally said desperately.

She, Charlie, Joey, Leah and VJ were all sat around the breakfast table in somewhat awkward silence. Ruby sighed as her mother half glared and half pouted at her for spilling secrets.

"Charlie..." she tried.

"She forgives you," Joey informed her. "She's just milking it, aren't you?"

She raised her eyebrows at her partner who sighed and relented.

"Fine," she said. "It doesn't matter. But it's still embarrassing."

"What did Ruby do?" VJ wondered.

"Nothing," Leah said quickly, not wanting to have that particular discussion.

Charlie's eyes widened.

"You elaborated, didn't you?" she squeaked, glaring again at her daughter.

"No..." Ruby lied.

Charlie shook her head and cleared the plates away, declaring that she was going to work. She kissed Joey's goodbye, waved at Leah and ruffled VJ's hair. She kissed the top of Ruby's head.

"You're really lucky I love you so much, young lady," she said before disappearing through the door.

"I'm confused," VJ said unhappily.


Joey was walking to work, strolling along the beach when she heard a male voice call her name. Turning around, she eyed Angelo with immediate distrust. Unless Charlie was around, the cop never approached her. He never had anything more to say to her than the odd grunt. After all this time, he still despised Joey and wanted Charlie for himself. She stopped on the beach anyway and allowed him to catch up to her.

"I think there's something you need to know," Angelo said.

"Yes?"

"Charlie's cheating on you."

He blurted it out quickly and tried not to look pleased that the perfect couple weren't so perfect after all. Joey's heart lurched for a moment but her certainty that Charlie would never betray her like that quickly took control.

"Is she really?" she asked, turning to walk away.

Angelo kept pace with her.

"She's seeing some guy behind your back," he said. "I saw them together."

"When?" Joey asked.

"She keeps sneaking out of work to see him," Angelo told her. "She goes to his house. I've seen them."

Joey stopped abruptly.

"So, what you're saying is that you're stalking my girlfriend?" she accused.

He looked startled and stammered over his words before saying that it wasn't like that.

"I thought you'd want to know what she was doing," he said. "Don't you care that she's being unfaithful?"

"She's not being unfaithful," Joey said certainly.

He startled her for a moment when he whipped a stack of pictures out of the envelope he was holding. He thrust them into her hands and she flicked through them. Charlie could indeed be seen entering a man's house. She was greeted by him and then the last few photos looked like they had been taken from some kind of height as the camera peered through an upstairs window. Unfazed, Joey handed them back and continued walking.

"Why don't you care?" Angelo asked desperately.

"Because Charlie would never cheat on me," Joey replied calmly.

He continued to keep pace with her.

"She goes regularly to an upstairs room in a man's house," he said as if she was stupid. "Of course she's cheating on you!"

Joey stopped abruptly and whirled around to face him, finally becoming angry.

"I want you to stop following my girlfriend around and interfering in our relationship," she snapped.

"I'm trying to help you!" Angelo insisted.

"No, you're not," Joey replied. "You think that by convincing me that Charlie's cheating, we'll break up and then you can swoop in and steal her when she's all vulnerable and alone. Do you think I don't know what you tried to do after she attacked Grant?"

Angelo swallowed and looked immediately guilty.

"But that's not going to happen. You've been trying to win Charlie back ever since you got off your murder charge and came back to the Bay," Joey accused. "When are you going to get it through your thick head that it's not going to happen? Charlie's with me. She's happy with me. She hasn't and won't betray me with some other guy, not you, not the guy in this photo, not anyone. Okay?"

She began to storm off again, now running a couple of minutes late for work.

"I saw them in action, Joey!" Angelo called after her.

Joey turned around and stormed back towards him, folding her arms across her chest.

"What crap are you going on about now?" she demanded.

"On Charlie's birthday, I went round to the house and I saw her having sex with some guy on the kitchen table," he said smugly. "They were so hot for each other that they didn't even make it to the bedroom."

Joey snorted with laughter.

"You saw Charlie having sex with a guy on the kitchen table?" she asked. "Really?"

"Yes, really."

"You're wrong, Angelo," the bait shop manager sighed. "She wasn't having sex with a guy. She was having sex with me."

"No way," Angelo replied certainly. "It couldn't have been you. There was... thrusting!"

"You think girls can't thrust?" she smirked.

"And he was wearing overalls," Angelo said. "He was a plumber or something."

"Still me, Angelo," Joey informed him.

"It couldn't have been you."

"I don't know if I'm offended that you think I could look like a guy," Joey said. "Or if I'm amused that you're so stupid you can't even figure out someone's gender at such a specific moment."

"You're lying," Angelo told her. "You're lying because you don't want to admit the truth."

"I am admitting the truth," Joey replied. "I'm telling you that I was the 'guy' you saw Charlie with."

"What about these visits?" Angelo asked. "That definitely wasn't you."

"They're not sleeping together," Joey said firmly.

She turned again and began to walk away. Angelo quickly caught up with her, falling into step beside her, regardless of the fact that she didn't want him around.

"I will get her back," he said.

Joey stopped and turned back around to face him. She folded her arms over her chest again and glared.

"You do know you're just a phase, don't you?" he challenged.

"If I'm just a phase, why are we about to move house? Together?"

"Yeah, right," he replied.

"Didn't you know? We're renting a place together. You know, doing the whole commitment, planning for the future thing. Didn't she tell you?"

Angelo clenched his jaw. This wasn't working out how he'd hoped. He'd meant to let doubt seep into her mind but she appeared determined to block him out.

"You must have forced her into it," he said.

"It was her idea."

"No way," Angelo said in disbelief. "Charlie doesn't do things like that. Everything's casual with her."

"Except me," Joey said smugly.

Angelo swallowed and decided to change his tack.

"You know, when we were together, we were at it like rabbits," he said. "Everything you know and have of her, I had first. She was hot for me."

"Things change," Joey said. "She saved the best for last."

"Like anything you could do could match up with me!" Angelo said, feeling and sounding like a petulant teenager. "No lesbian alternatives could make up for how good Charlie and I were together. She'll wake up one day and realise that she's completely unsatisfied."

"I thought you said she already had," Joey snorted. "And oh look, it wasn't even with you!"

"Yeah, well, I still think you're lying," he replied. "And all because you can't bear to admit that everything you think you and Charlie have is just pretend."

"Firstly, lesbian sex isn't a substitute for anything. I can assure you it's the real deal," Joey said evenly. "And secondly, I know exactly how to keep Charlie satisfied – again and again and again."

She smiled smugly and began to walk away. He stared after her, irritated that he'd lost the argument. Generally, picturing lesbians together was very exciting but knowing it was Joey with his Charlie was too much. He hated it. And he hated how proudly she had informed him that they were renting a new home together.

"I'll get her back," he yelled.

Joey turned back to him, walking backwards.

"Just try it," she said, turning back around and continuing on her way.


Charlie went round to interview Marilyn again about Justin's accident. She and Angelo were at a complete loss as to what had happened and it was irritating her to say the least.

"Hello?" she called when she found the door open but nobody responded to her knock.

She paused in surprise when Romeo appeared in a dress.

"This isn't what it looks like," he said awkwardly.


Joey was still fuming about Angelo when Aden arrived at the bait shop with his own problems.

"You okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Not especially," Joey frowned, screwing up her fortunately empty paper coffee cup and throwing it into the bin.

"Well, I came here to bitch about Justin and Nicole but you do want to go first?" he asked.

"Fucking Angelo," Joey said bitterly.

"You're fucking Angelo?" Aden asked, his eyes wide.

She looked horrified until she realised he was joking. Then she poked her tongue out at him, sinking into a chair in order to share her mood.


Still in a dress, Romeo had sat down with Charlie and was clearly upset.

"I just don't think I can do it," he admitted. "I want to. I made a promise and I know Annie is going to be really upset if I back out but..."

He lifted his arms, gesturing to his outfit.

"How on earth am I meant to stand on stage in this?"

"I think you're just going to have to go for it," Charlie said. "I mean, in all honesty, the last thing I wanted to do last year was get up and play Romeo in front of the whole town. But I did it, and you know what? It was great!"

"A girl playing a boy is easier than a boy playing a girl," Romeo said.

"I was in a really bad place at the time," Charlie said. "I only joined the drama class because Joey begged me. And do you know what a really big part of my decision was?"

"What?"

"If I didn't play Romeo to Joey's Juliet then someone else would."

Romeo's eyes widened in horror.

"Yeah, I looked like that too when I realised," Charlie admitted. "And the girl up for my part really liked Joey."

"She is hot," Romeo smirked.

Charlie snorted with laughter.

"I think you need to ask yourself how much Annie means to you."

"She means everything," he said without missing a beat.

"And how bad is it really going to be to wear a dress in public?"

He returned to looking worried.

"A lot worse things could happen, Romeo," Charlie said. "I think you just need to embrace it."

"Maybe..." he said, although he was already feeling a little better.

They were interrupted by Charlie's mobile ringing.

"Joey?" she said, surprised.

"I need to see you," Joey told her.

They arranged to meet at the Diner immediately.


Next time... Joey tells Charlie about her conversation with Angelo, Martha frets about Xavier and Leah worries about Elijah's avoidance...